Increase MGNREGA wage rate for state: MP

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, February 9

The issue concerning the lower wage rate notified under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) for Punjab was echoed in Parliament on Friday.

The Rajya Sabha MP from Ludhiana, Sanjeev Arora, took up the issue while highlighting that the current wage rate of Rs 303 per day for unskilled labour under MGNREGA in Punjab was considerably lower than the neighbouring state of Haryana, where the wage rate stands at Rs 357 per day.

“I would like to highlight that the Punjab Labour Department has notified an unskilled agricultural labour wage rate of Rs 412.95 per day, which is significantly higher than the wage rate offered under MGNREGA. Such a discrepancy not only creates inequality among workers but also undermines the dignity of labour and the intent of the MGNREGA programme,” the MP said, while speaking in the Zero Hour during the ongoing interim budget session of Parliament.

He pointed out that the annual funds released under MGNREGA have gone down in 2022-23 as compared to previous years, rather this amount ideally should have increased keeping in view the inflation.

Arora stressed that it was imperative that the wage rate was increased to bring it at par with either Haryana or the wage rates set by the Punjab Labour Department.

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