KURNOOL: Taking a erious view of the migrations of farmhands and farmers in the district, collector S Satyanarayana on Thursday directed officials concerned to check the exodus by providing works under MGNREGS. He warned the officials of suspension if they failed to check the migrations.
After The New Indian Express on Thursday brought to light the movement of rural poor from the district, the Collector held a meeting with officials at night in his camp office and discussed large scale migrations from rural areas of Kurnool in the last four months.
He directed them to conduct a week-long special drive to control the migrations and provide works to job card holders in their native villages. He also instructed the officials to create awareness about the situation using tom-tom in village squares. Special hostels will be set up for children to continue their studies in case their parents migrate for works. He stressed the need to take the issue seriously.
Earlier, NREGS implementation committee director S Ramakrishna had asked officials to clear NREGS wage dues at the earliest. He said the committee members would visit rural areas to take stock of NREGS activities shortly. According to an estimate, about 2 lakh rural poor have migrated to other places in search of livelihood in the last four months mainly due to the tardy implementation of MGNREGA. Increased cost of living and payment of meagre wages are said to be the major reasons for the migrations. Under MGNREGA, a worker has to be paid a daily wage of `197 depending on the nature of work.
However, the average daily wage paid to the workers in the district is `99. Even this is not paid regularly. As of June, the arrears due were `52 crore and the following month with release of funds by the centre, `20 crore dues were cleared. As on date, the MGNREGS wage dues in the district stand at `32 crore. According to MGNREGA workers, their wages are not being paid on a daily basis.