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Khandre orders show-cause notices to 394 officials
In Short
Taking serious note of the failure to pay unskilled workers for work completed, Khandre said administrative negligence was discouraging people from taking up employment under the scheme.
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Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister Eshwar B. Khandre
Bengaluru: Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister Eshwar B Khandre has directed officials to issue show-cause notices to 308 Panchayat Development Officers (PDOs), 74 taluk executive officers and 12 deputy secretaries for delays and negligence in disbursing wages to workers under the VB-G RAM G rural employment guarantee scheme.
In written instructions to the department secretary and the chief executive officers of 12 Zilla Panchayats, Khandre expressed displeasure over delays in wage payments across 311 gram panchayats in 12 districts, despite funds having been released to the panchayats. The minister had earlier made it clear that PDOs would be held responsible if wages were not paid to beneficiaries working under the scheme within 15 days.
Taking serious note of the failure to pay unskilled workers for work completed, Khandre said administrative negligence was discouraging people from taking up employment under the scheme. He expressed concern that even during drought conditions, workers were reluctant to continue working and were instead migrating in search of livelihoods.
The delayed payments have been reported in 311 gram panchayats across Bagalkot (23), Belagavi (52), Chamarajanagar (13), Chikkamagaluru (14), Dakshina Kannada (15), Hassan (47), Kodagu (25), Mandya (13), Mysuru (53), Shivamogga (14), Udupi (23) and Vijayapura (16).
Khandre has directed the authorities concerned to obtain explanations from the PDOs responsible for payment at the gram panchayat level, the taluk executive officers tasked with supervision and the deputy secretaries of the 12 Zilla Panchayats.
He has also instructed the department secretary and the respective Zilla Panchayat CEOs to ensure that such delays do not recur.
The minister said the state government had implemented the scheme from July 1 to support rural poor people, disadvantaged communities, members of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, and landless labourers, despite the additional financial burden arising from the Centre’s reported change in the funding ratio from 90:10 under MGNREGA to 60:40 under VB-G RAM G. He warned that delays and negligence by officials could undermine the scheme’s objective of providing livelihood support and preventing distress migration among rural workers.
