MGNREGA Workers Not Paid

Thousands of workers who worked on dobhas (small farm ponds) constructed through the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) across Jharkhand from April to June 2016 have not yet been paid. Many of these workers have complained about not receiving their wages, but their grievances have fallen on deaf ears. In some blocks, such as Petarwar of Bokaro and Chakradharpur of West Singhbhum, government officials and functionaries have even refused to accept workers’ complaints.

In the bid to meet the target set by the government of constructing 1.5 lakh dobhas across the state, most workers were made to work with the assurance that muster rolls with their names would be generated as soon as possible. (Such promises are a violation of the act, as muster rolls are to be generated before workers start work and are to be available at the worksite for inspection.) For many of these workers, muster rolls have still not been generated.