This decision was taken at a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Mukul Sangma today.
"The job card holders will be entitled to compensation at the rate of .05 per cent of the total outstanding wages in the event of delay in releasing the same," the chief minister said.
He said that as per the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA), 2005, compensation has to be paid to the job card holders if there is a delay in the release of their wages by 15 days.
Stating that the state government is committed to implement the Act in letter and spirit, the chief minister said that the state government has already created a corpus fund of Rs 35 crore with the C&RD department.
"The corpus fund will enable the department to pay the compensation whenever needed or when there is delay in receiving funds from the Centre government," he said.