Nawanshahr/Rahon: National Labor Organization (NLO) Convener Baldev Bharti said; that MGNREGA workers are legally entitled to get the daily wage fixed under the 'Minimum Wages Act-1948' as per the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act-2005. The Punjab Government's Labor Department has fixed the daily wage of agricultural workers at Rs. 441/- 12 paise from 01/09/2024. But in Punjab, MGNREGA workers are getting only Rs. 322/- daily wage fixed by the Central Government and each worker is losing Rs. 119/- 12 paise per daily wage.
The Punjab Government is not contributing its due share to pay the daily wage as per the Minimum Wages Act-1948. They demanded that the daily wage of the workers should be made equal to the daily wage fixed by the Labour Department by implementing the 'Minimum Wages Act-1948' in MGNREGA. NLO chief Baldev Bharti further said that the Punjab government has fixed the daily wage for skilled workers at Rs 487/- 42 paise from 01 September 2024.
But the mates who run the MGNREGA work smoothly and who come in the skilled category are not being given the same daily wage as the Rs 322/- of MGNREGA workers. In this way, the mates are losing Rs 165/- 42 paise per day. They demanded that it be ensured that MGNREGA mates get skilled wages. They also demanded that the employment for the families of MGNREGA workers should be increased from 100 days to at least 200 days during the financial year.