Andhra to rope in SHGs to tackle delay in NREGP payments

THE OTHER INDIA

Those getting work under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme (NREGP) in Andhra Pradesh need not worry any more about the delay in payments.

The state government has decided to take the help of self-help groups (SHGs) to disburse wages to workers under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA). These groups will disburse wages on a weekly basis.

Officials said the first-of-its-kind initiative under the scheme was aimed at increasing the involvement of the poorest of the poor, who till now were not seeking work because of the delay in payments.

While the state is already routing wages under the scheme through post offices, the delay in payments was affecting the rural poor, whose only source of income, at times, was from work rendered under the scheme.

Under the NREGP Act, the payment should be made within 15 days of the work.

In Andhra Pradesh, 98 per cent of the wages under the scheme are paid through post offices and the rest are paid through grameen banks. The problem of delayed payments is severe as payments are delayed by months in many cases.

"From failure to close the musters on time to problems in getting money from the post master for disbursal, several factors are responsible for this delay. Though the problem is evident in around 25 per cent of the cases, we have developed a new model under which the village SHG federation (mahila samakhya), run by women, will disburse the wages in their respective villages," A Murali, director, NREGP, Andhra Pradesh, told Business Standard.

Under this initiative, each SHG federation will be provided with Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh, which will suffice for around two weeks.

Based on the musters, on each weekend, these women will pay Rs 60 per each workday to the worker. The remaining mimimum of Rs 20 (could be more) based on the performance will be paid through the post office next week. (Andhra Pradesh pays Rs 80 as minimum daily wage to the NREGA workers). This would reduce the delay time by a week, Murali said.

He said the model, which had been running succesfully in the Pulkal mandal of the Medak district in the state for the past three months, would be replicated in 100 mandals across 19 districts of the state from the first week of August. "Based on its success, we have plans to launch the programme statewide," he added.

"We have already provided training to mandal officials for the project. Now we are training mandal and village SHG federations," Murali said.

The officials have expressed satisfaction over the project in its pilot form, saying it has led to an increase in participation. "Before the pilot project , around 300 people used to come to work under the NREGA in Pulkal but now the number is about 2,500, which shows the success of the model," Murali said.

"Earlier, participation of the poorest of the poor, who are dependent on daily wages for survival, was very low as they used to receive money after around 15 days. Now even these people are turning up in large numbers," he said.

The state would also implement the mate concept prescribed under the Act. The mate would assume the role of a caretaker and supervise the work of around 40 people and maintain the musters.