Haryana Panchayat and Development Minister Krishan Lal Panwar on Thursday said under the ‘Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Aajeevika Mission’ (Gramin), Haryana will offer the highest daily wage in the country at Rs 409.
He also said the payments under the VB G RAM G will now be made within seven days instead of 15.
The minister was addressing a gathering on the occasion of a state-level event held in Kurukshetra for the launch of the scheme. He inaugurated the scheme by launching a pond excavation project in Shahzadpur village.
Krishan Lal said “The eligible workers must register online; following registration and physical verification, employment would be provided within 15 days. Workers will be given 125 days of work annually. Wages under the scheme will be credited directly to the beneficiaries’ bank accounts. Workers will also be granted 60 days of leave for crop harvesting and sowing activities.”
“If an employee is found negligent, a penalty of Rs 10,000 will be imposed, while earlier it was Rs 1,000 only. To prevent irregularities, workers’ attendance at the workplace will be recorded via biometric systems. Upon the scheme’s launch, the central government has allocated Rs 590.19 crore, while the Haryana government contributed around Rs 370 crore.
While addressing, the Minister recalled that when the bill was introduced, the Congress party was the first to oppose it. The Congress’s mindset is to oppose even good initiatives.
Cabinet Minister Krishan Lal Panwar stated that the scheme was discussed during a two-day camp held with Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
While offering suggestions to the Union Minister, he proposed integrating the work of ‘Pradhan Mantri Sadak Yojana-4’ with the ‘VB G RAM G’. He also suggested that a separate budget be allocated for post-construction road maintenance, with the work to be executed through this scheme.
He said that labour costs account for 60 percent of material payments and recommended that this portion be earmarked separately.
He called for the removal of NGT restrictions regarding the clearing of trees standing in the middle of roads. He also highlighted the long delays occurring between the release of the first installment and the subsequent second and third installments under the ‘PM Awas Yojana’ and ‘Chief Minister Awas Yojana’, which leaves the homes of the poor in an unfinished state; he urged for the timely release of these installments. Additionally, he called for filling vacant posts associated with the implementation of these schemes.
He pointed out that the current provision offers only Rs 25,000 in the event of a worker’s death during the course of work. He proposed enhancing this provision to include insurance coverage of Rs 2 lakh to provide financial assistance to the family in the event of such a tragedy.
