
CHENNAI: Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu on Monday called on Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in New Delhi and submitted a memorandum urging her to release Rs 1,635 crore immediately towards to disbursement of wages for workers under the Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.
Thennarasu also urged the union minister to approve additional person-days under the scheme for the current financial year as already requested by the Tamil Nadu government. Recently, Chief Minister MK Stalin wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in this regard.
An official release said the CM had already written to Modi about the non-disbursal of funds for paying the wages of workers under MGNREGS since November 27, 2024. Since the GOI has not released the funds, Thennarasu called on the Union Finance Minister and reiterated the state’s request. Thennarasu said Rs 1,635 crore has been pending towards wages since November 27.
“It is to be noted that 86% of employment is provided to women workers and nearly 29% of workers belong to SC/ST households. Besides, around 1 lakh differently-abled workers are provided employment each year under this scheme. In all, 1.09 crore people belonging to 85 lakh families have been registered under the MGNREGS in Tamil Nadu,” the release added. Thennarasu also called on Union Minister for Agriculture Shivraj Singh Chouhan in this regard.
DMK MP Kanimozhi and Rural Development Secretary Gagandeep Singh Bedi were present at the meeting.