BHUBANESWAR: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday requested the Centre to consider the Odisha government’s proposal for addition of a default provision in the NREGASoft for drawal, utilisation and recoupment of budgetary allocation towards the State’s revolving fund to prevent delay in payment of wages under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS).
“The Ministry of Rural Development has been requested earlier for addition of a default provision in NREGASoft to prevent delay in payment of wages. However, the ministry is yet to take any action on the proposal of the State government,” the Chief Minister said in a letter to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Chief Minister said the State government has created a ‘revolving fund’ for timely payment of wages under the scheme whenever there is a delay in receipt of funds from the Centre. Stating that government has made a budgetary allocation of `1,000 crore for the revolving fund for 2022-23 financial year, he said it will be recouped after receipt of fund from the Centre.
The State government has taken a slew of proactive measures to ensure proper implementation of the scheme and ensured that benefit of the scheme reached the intended beneficiaries, the Chief Minister said and added that Odisha has done well in ensuring almost 100 per cent timely payment of wages. “This is a testimony of the tremendous emphasis it has attached to the mandates of Act,” he added.
The Chief Minister also said the Centre has raised the central budgetary allocation for MGNREGS during the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic, which enabled the State government to provide succour to vulnerable rural households especially the migrant families.