SRINAGAR: A government audit has found that 71 per cent of the MGNREGA works examined in 10 sampled blocks of Jammu and Kashmir involved wage payments beyond the prescribed time limit, with delays ranging from one to 254 days during 2019-24.
The audit scrutiny of 400 test-checked works found that wages were paid late in 284 cases. Compensation of Rs 2.66 lakh for delayed wage payments remained outstanding as of March 2024.
The findings are contained in the Composite Audit Report (Civil) for the period ended March 2024, which examined the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in J&K.
A beneficiary survey conducted during the audit also highlighted the extent of the delay. Of 400 beneficiaries surveyed, 165, or 41 per cent, said they had not received their wages within the prescribed 15-day period from completion of the work.
Under Paragraph 29 of the revised Schedule II of the MGNREGA Act, 2005, workers are entitled to compensation for delayed wage payments at the rate of 0.05 per cent of the unpaid wages for each day of delay beyond the 15th day after closure of the muster roll.
Audit scrutiny of records and information obtained from the Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Department found that against Rs 19.60 lakh in compensation approved for delayed payments between 2019-20 and 2023-24, only Rs 2.04 lakh, or about 10 per cent, had been paid by March 2024.
This left Rs 17.56 lakh of approved compensation unpaid as of March 2024. In five sampled districts, a further Rs 10.95 lakh was payable to workers for delayed wage payments relating to works executed during 2019-24.
The audit also found that, among the five sampled districts, only Rajouri and Poonch had approved compensation for delayed wage payments relating to works executed during the period.
It observed that delays in paying wages defeated the objective of providing employment to rural households at a time when they needed it.
In its January 2025 reply, the Department stated that the Union Territory administration was committed to processing all pending compensation efficiently and would take steps to prevent such delays in future.
The audit separately flagged deficiencies in the implementation of the Aadhaar-Based Payment System (ABPS), under which workers’ accounts are required to be appropriately seeded with Aadhaar and mapped through the National Payments Corporation of India mapper by banks.
As of March 2024, J&K had 22.29 lakh MGNREGA workers, including 14.61 lakh active workers. The accounts of 3.33 lakh workers, including 2,088 active workers, had not been converted to the Aadhaar-based payment mode.
The audit observed that failure to map Aadhaar with the accounts of active workers resulted in the rejection of 67,430 transactions involving Rs 11.33 crore in the five sampled districts during 2019-24.
Of these, Anantnag accounted for 25,469 rejected transactions involving Rs 4.36 crore, Kupwara 2,542 transactions worth Rs 0.41 crore, Poonch 12,876 transactions worth Rs 2.03 crore, Rajouri 16,433 transactions worth Rs 2.64 crore and Jammu 10,110 transactions involving Rs 1.89 crore.
The audit concluded that the Department had not ensured universal adoption of ABPS, resulting in transaction rejections and contributing to delays in wage payments.
