Kerala has received only Rs 1702.62 crore in place of Rs 2438.62 crore as allocation under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in 2016-17. MGNREGS wages have not been paid for rural workers, mostly poor womenfolk, since December 2016. DC records the plight of workers in obscure villages across the state who have been suddenly deprived of their only source of dependable income.
Thiruvananthapuram: Sulochana is a frail woman who looks older than her 62 years. At noon, on a thankfully overcast day, she was busy pulling out weeds and garbage using a long-handled hoe from a waterbody that has fallen on lean times in Venganoor, a BJP-ruled coastal panchayat right below the southern tip of Thiruvananthapuram Corporation. The cleaning work was part of Haritha Keralam Mission done under Mahatma Gandhi National rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.
There is a devastating irony to the dedication Sulochana shows in her work. She works her heart out knowing that she will not be paid wages any time soon. She has now worked for 65 days without pay. "Sulochana chechi is the hardest working person I have ever come across. She doesn't even waste time talking with others," said Suganthi, the MGNREGS convenor for two wards in Venganoor. Others, too, are equally worse off. Suganthi normally had 80 workers under her. "Now, after the wage issue, only 36 report to work. Most are widows like Sulochana chechi, and they have only MGNREGS work to depend on. One of them is 75 years old whose son has abandoned her," Suganthi said.
Sulochana was extremely reluctant to talk but mumbled a few words at lunch break. "I have nothing else to do, so I work," she said. She had lost her husband 23 years ago, and her only daughter has moved out after marriage. She now lives alone in a two-room tarpaulin shed that leaks profusely during rains.
"Earlier she worked in a handloom unit in Balaramapuram. But the pay was too meagre. Then, she would have considered herself lucky if she received Rs 100 a day for her work," Suganthi said. "MGNREGA must have been a big relief for her. Since 2006, the year the project was launched in the state, the project was her lifeline. It was with that money, though far from inadequate, she managed to teach her daughter and then marry her off. She is already saddled with debt. And now she has not been getting any pay for the last six months," Suganthi said.
While others unload their troubles by speaking to each other, Sulochana keeps to herself. "I am not sure how she manages these days. Some shops nearby offer her provisions on debt. I also hear that she has borrowed money," Suganthi said. While others were having their lunch, Sulochana was seen walking along the sides of the pond plucking leaves from the overgrowth at the side. "I don't know whether they are edible but she is collecting those leaves to make some dish for the coming days," Suganthi said.
