Rural workers in Coimbatore complain of partial employment and pending wages under MGNREGS

Rural workers gather at the Coimbatore Collectorate on Monday to submit a petition to the Collector.
| Photo Credit: S. Siva Saravanan

Espousing the cause of its members, the Tamil Nadu Agricultural Workers’ Association submitted a petition to the Coimbatore Collector on Monday, demanding the settlement of pending wages and the allocation of the full 100 days of employment promised under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS).

The Coimbatore district secretary of the association, R. Duraisamy, said that while workers were entitled to 100 days of work under the scheme, they had been provided with only around 40 days of employment in recent months. He also pointed out that wages for the work done over the last two months remained unpaid.

Under the scheme, a fixed daily wage of ₹309 was to be paid equally to both men and women. The association said that delays in wage disbursal and reduction in work days had severely affected the earnings of rural households dependent on MGNREGS. It urged the Collector to intervene immediately and ensure full work allocation and timely payment of dues.

Over 50 workers from the Annur and Karamadai blocks gathered at the Collectorate to submit the petition. They said that although the issue had been raised earlier with respective local bodies and in gram sabha meetings, no action had been taken so far.