Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to consider paying unemployment allowance to workers registered under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) in the state.
In a letter to the PM, Patnaik has requested Modi to consider disbursal of unemployment allowance to 36 lakh MGNREGS workers in the state who are unable work during the lockdown period. As per MGNREGS rules, registered workers who would not employment for the minimum days mandated in the law are eligible for unemployment allowance.
The CM wrote, “I request you to kindly consider the proposal and allow the state to use the MGNREGS funds and release the unemployment allowance in the accounts of the active members of the scheme in Odisha.”
Patnaik said that Odisha has 36,10,797 active workers who are deprived of employment under MGNREGS due to the 21-day lockdown. An amount of Rs 380.39 crore, which is one fourth of the wage rate as per the MGNREG Act, may be sanctioned as unemployment allowance to protect their livelihood.
“This will help to mitigate their sufferings during this lockdown period, as we are not in a position to give them work,” the CM said in his letter.
He added, “While we are taking all preemptive steps as a nation to minimize the damage due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we must also see that the suffering of the people, particularly those at the bottom of the pyramid is minimised.”
Patnaik said that the people of Odisha have positively responded to the PM’s ‘Janata curfew’ and 21-day lockdown initiatives. “My government has also taken many proactive steps to ensure the safety and security of the people. While we continue our fight against the impending challenge, I would like to bring to your notice that the poor, particularly MGNREGS workers, have been badly affected due to the 21-day lockdown.”
