
CHENNAI: AIADMK General Secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami on Wednesday condemned the DMK government for failing to disburse wages for the workers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme for the past two months.
In a statement, Palaniswami said the DMK had promised to increase the working days under this scheme from 100 days to 150 days and hike the wages up to Rs 300. However, these promises have not been fulfilled, he said.
In his response, Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu said that on January 13, Chief Minister MK Stalin had urged PM Narendra Modi to advise the Union Ministry of Rural Development to immediately release the outstanding dues to the tune of Rs 1,056 crore so that the wages due to the workers of MGNREGS could be disbursed.
The CM had also urged the PM to advise the ministry to approve the state government’s proposal to revise and increase the Labour Budget for Tamil Nadu from 20 crore person-days to 35 crore person-days.
This request was sent to the ministry on November 23, 2024, and is awaiting sanction. The minister also said instead of raising his voice against the union government for its failure, Palaniswami had found fault with the state government.