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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | 101 NREGA workers win compensation

101 NREGA workers win compensation

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published Published on Feb 24, 2012   modified Modified on Feb 24, 2012
-The Times of India
 
In what is a first in Andhra Pradesh, 101 workers in Medak district have been awarded unemployment allowance to the tune of Rs 2 lakh for having been denied work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).

The award is being seen as an assertion of wage earners' rights under the Act as this is the first time that they have earned compensation for not having received what they have been guaranteed.

Forty-seven workers from the marginalized sections of society in Doulatabad mandal's Konapur village and another 54 workers at Ramunipatla, Gurralgondi and Jakkapur villages in Chinna Kodur mandal have secured allowances of Rs 60,425 and Rs 1,37,975, respectively, after having waged a four year-long struggle for it.

"Although there is a provision for it in the Act, officials have been denying the workers their allowance," said civil rights activist Shankar whose group had taken up the labourers' cause. As per section VII of MGNREGA, if a worker, having applied for work, is not provided employment within 15 days, then that person is entitled to a daily unemployment allowance of not less than one-fourth of the wage rate for the first 30 days. Also, MGNREGA puts the onus of paying the allowance on state governments.

In February 2008, the labourers in question had applied for work under the scheme and had receipts issued them by mandal officials. However, no work was allotted to them. "We did not know that we were entitled to an unemployment allowance. Anyway, justice has been done," Balamma, one of the recipients of the compensation, said.

District Water Management Agency (DWMA), which is the nodal authority for implementation of MGNREGA, attributed the delay in payment of allowance to software glitches. "The software did not have the provision for payment of unemployment allowance. Now, we have included it in the software," Anuradha, DWMA project director in Medak district, told TOI. Andhra Pradesh was the first state in the country to implement MGNREGS when it was launched in 2006, with Medak being one of the pilot districts where the scheme was introduced.

Meanwhile, the initiative to provide unemployment allowance as a social security measure has not found much support in the labour ministry. "It is very difficult to keep paying unemployment allowance to the workers. We have granted payments to the Medak workers since their case was genuine," A Murali, director, MGNREGA, said.


The Times of India, 17 February, 2012, http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-02-17/hyderabad/31070824_1_unemployment-allowance-mgnrega-nrega-workers


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