KURNOOL: The spirit of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) 2005 seems to have been lost as it is unable to curb migration from rural areas. At least three lakh people have moved out of the district so far. Scarcity of water, spiralling cost of living and meagre wages under NREGA are said to be the reasons for workers moving to greener pastures in search of better livelihood. But officials say only those who have completed 100 days of employment under NREGA have moved to other areas.
The government scheme provides 100-day work for every job card holder under NREGA. A worker gets a maximum of Rs 205 per day, including summer allowance. On some occasions, workers get Rs 70 depending on the work done. The district average daily wage is Rs 130. The amount is not paid on a daily basis. In other places, wages are high and are paid on a daily basis.
The drought conditions are also pushing the migrants to the brink. More people have moved out of the district in the recent past from Alur, Pathikonda, Dhone, Yemmiganur, Kodumur, and Adoni. Villages present a gloomy look with majority of houses being locked. Some villages are nearly empty with the young and able-bodied men going to Guntur district to work in farmlands or to work in industries and construction sites in Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Bengaluru, Ballari, Mumbai and Delhi.
The new rules say that work should be given for 150 days on need basis and others should be given 100 days, but since the work is allotted to all the eligible members of the family on the same day, it becomes difficult for all of them to attend.
Due to this, the government has given job cards to nine lakh people, but only 2.5 lakh are utilising the cards and currently, two lakh people are working under NREGS. DWMA project director Venkata Subbaiah said, “We are conducting awareness programmes on NREGS to curb migration.” APREGS implementation committee member Satram Ramakrishna said that they have been providing all facilities to the workers, including summer allowance.