Live
- Tribal Ashram school girl students fall sick again
- Grand finale of Innovation marathon begins at IIT Tirupati
- Ensure no inconvenience to bus passengers: MLA
- Being overweight surpasses smoking as Australia's leading health risk
- Rush of Devotees at Tirumala normal, to take six hours for darshans
- Thiruvannamalai turns a major revenue earner for RTC
- Development works in Warangal to take off on war-footing: Ponguleti
- Great day for America: Trump welcomes FBI chief's resignation announcement
- SAAP chief for bringing hi-tech into sports
- Paddy purchases to be sped up
Shortage of labourers delays govt works in urban areas
Normally, works will be delayed due to the shortage of material or money in the country. But, there is a different picture in AP. The government works are getting delayed in urban areas in the State due to acute shortage of labourers. According to the officials, shortage of workers is due to MGNREGA.
Visakhapatnam: Normally, works will be delayed due to the shortage of material or money in the country. But, there is a different picture in AP. The government works are getting delayed in urban areas in the State due to acute shortage of labourers. According to the officials, shortage of workers is due to MGNREGA.
With the availability of 100 working days under MGNRGA and yearlong government welfare programmes, majority of the labourers are not coming to urban areas. With this, large number of engineering works have been delayed and costs are escalating.
Though the government has been insisting the engineering officials to complete the projects within the given deadlines, the works are not gearing up due to the acute shortage of workers.
The contractors who are executing the works are now offering various sops to the workers including food, shelter and also liquor. Taking advantage, some of the workers are demanding high remuneration.
The middlemen, who are engaged in bringing workers from rural areas to urban areas, say that the labourers are not willing to come to urban areas as they get 100 days of MGNREGA works at their villages. The TDP government after coming into the power in 2014, has been taking up almost 90 percent works under the NREGA.
At a daylong review meeting held here on Sunday with the Chief Minister, some of the senior officials informed that the labourers are not coming to works in urban areas to take up road laying and building construction works. The contractors are now bringing workers from the neighbouring states.
Under the MGNREGA, the State government has issued 87 lakh house hold job cards covering almost 1.75 crore job seekers assuring 100 working days in a year. “Yes, it is true, we have also the information that the migration of the workers from the villages drastically comedown.
In the present fiscal, we are taking up Rs 21,000 crore worth of works under the NREGA. Of them, Rs 5,000 crore worth of works were completed and another Rs 15,800 crore works are in progress across the State.
When they are getting enough works at their own villages, majority of people will not migrate for other works. Moreover, the roads and building works are tough and they have to work at new places,” a senior IAS official of Panchayat Raj and Rural Development department said.
By Vkl Gayatri
