VEC to receive payment for raw materials within a month

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaJune 6, 2022

All will be well now for the hundreds of village employment councils (VEC) in Meghalaya who were left high and dry due to the non release of bills for raw materials for implementation of MGNREGA.

The State Rural Employment Society (SRES) informed that the Union Ministry of Rural Development has released the Material & Administrative component towards MGNREGA of Rs. 391 crores.

Once the funds are released by the Govt of India and credited to the State Exchequer, these will immediately be disbursed to the respective VECs within this month.

The SRES is a society for implementation of MGNREGA, PMAY-G, RGSA, CFP, Community & Rural Development Department, Government of Meghalaya.

This amount has been released to meet the pending liabilities of FY 2021-22 under the programme which earlier could not be released due to various reasons- viz., merging of all subsidiary accounts in only ONE State Nodal Accounts (SNA).

This is a major revamp in the NREGASoft module capturing all details of staff, vendors (both administrative and material), skilled workers, etc. among others which are aimed at bringing about transparency and accountability in fund transfer.

The last fund received by the State was in March 2022 for an amount of Rs. 49 crores.

Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma took up the matter with the Union Minister, Rural Development and was subsequently followed up by Minister, C&RD and Principal Secretary, Community and Rural Development Department for early release of the funds by the Govt of India.

While there are no such issues with regards to wages component, which are normally paid within 15 days after submission of muster rolls, the above mentioned technical aspects have caused an inadvertent delay on the material components.

Meghalaya has a unique requirement where MGNREGA is implemented not only for wage employment but for creation of  durable assets in the rural areas which are the way forward for other developmental activities to find a way to penetrate the rural areas.

MGNREGA has a mandate to utilise at least 60% of the funds received Natural Resource Management (NRM) annually.

With the initiation of the new Financial Year, the targets under the programme are focussed on Natural Resource Management, Water conservation and Water harvesting, Climate Change reversal to bring about a paradigm shift in the implementation processes through constant dialogue and awareness about the immediate needs of intervention.