SHILLONG: Job card holders under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in the State will be compensated by the Government if there is a delay of more than 15 days in payment of their wages.
After approving the proposal during the State cabinet meeting here on Friday, Chief Minister Mukul Sangma said, “Wages must be paid to the job card holders within 15 days of preparation of muster rolls.”
“However, if there is a delay in payment of wages for more than 15 days, the job card holders will be entitled to receive compensation at the rate of 0.5 per cent of the total outstanding wage.”
“We stand committed to implement the contents of the Act in letter and spirit,” Sangma added.
The state has more than 4 lakh job card holders under the MGNREGA.
The State Government also has a corpus fund to ensure that the funds are used for payment of wages when there is delay on the part of the centre to release the funds and the same corpus fund will be utilised for paying compensation to the job card holders in case of delay in the payment of wages.
Sangma said that the Government has reserved Rs 35 crore for the corpus fund.
However, there is a provision that compen-sation will not be paid to the job card holders if no funds are received from the Union Government for the payment of wages.“But if there is money and the payment is still delayed, than the job card holders would be entitled for compensation,” the chief minister said.
