UP cabinet approves penaltyfor delayed MNREGA wages

Uttar Pradesh cabinet on Tuesday approved a proposal to make mandatory payment of wages of rural job scheme in 15 days and penalize officers responsible for delay along with realization of the amount of compensation to be paid to workers from salaries of officers responsible for the delayed payment.

Chief minister Yogi Adityanath presided over the meeting of state cabinet that also approved proposal for implementation of a drinking water scheme in the villages of Bundelkhand and Vindhyachal regions having impurities of arsenic and fluoride and affected by Japanese Encephalitis and Acute Encephalitis Syndrome. The scheme will be implemented in all seven districts of Bundelkhand and Mirzapur and Sonebhadra districts of Vindhyachal with an estimated cost of ₹86000 crore.

Briefing media persons, ministers and government spokesman Shrikant Sharma and Siddharthnath Singh said the state cabinet approved compensation for delayed payment under provisions of section 32 and sub section (01) of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) 2005. Sharma said the cabinet approved Uttar Pradesh National Rural Employment Guarantee (compensation for delayed payment) Rules 2019 making payment of MNREGA wages in 15 days mandatory. He said compensation of ₹0.05 percent per day will be paid to workers for delayed payment and the amount will be realised from salaries of officers responsible for the delay.

The cabinet also approved a proposal for demolition of 17 old buildings in Etah and 20 old buildings in Hardoi to make district hospitals as two new medical colleges there under the Establishment of New Medical Colleges Attached with Existing District/Referral Hospitals (Phase-2) scheme. A sum of ₹96.55 lakh and ₹1.64 crore respectively will be placed in sundry account.

Proposals for expansion of municipal limits of Agra Nagar Nigam and Shahjahanpur Nagar Nigam were also approved. It also approved proposal to expand limits of Hathras Nagar Palika Parishad, Maharajganj Nagar Palika Parishad, Jalalpur Nagar Palika Parishad (Ambedkar Nagar), Mehandawal Nagar Panchayat (Sant Kabir Nagar) and Anand Nagar Nagar Panchayat (Maharajganj). It also approved proposal to set up Mohanlalganj Nagar Panchayat (Lucknow), Lamhua Nagar Panchayat (Sultanpur), Madrak Nagar Panchayat (Aligarh), Tamkuhiraj Nagar Panchahayat (Kushinagar), Jahanaganj Bazar Nagar Panchayat (Azamgarh), Gaura Badshahpur Nagar Panchayat (Jaunpur), Rajpur Nagar Panchayat (Kanpur Dehat), Paniyara Nagar Panchayat (Maharajganj) and Partawal Nagar Panchayat (Maharajganj), .

The cabinet approved proposal for higher specifications for under construction 24 court rooms on the court premises of Gorakhpur. Approved revised cost of project will be ₹48.42 crore. It approved proposal for higher specifications for construction of 400 bedded (200 room) hostel at Judicial Training and Research Institute Gomti Nagar, Lucknow. A proposal to prorogue the two houses of state legislature, adjourned sine die on December 19, 2019, was also approved.