Daijiworld Media Network – Udupi

Udupi, Jul 9: Contract-based workers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) scheme have not received their salaries for the past five to six months, leading to a temporary halt in project activities and the launch of a non-cooperation protest by affected employees.

The issue stems from a persistent technical glitch that authorities have been unable to resolve. As a result, workers in Udupi district (around 40) and Dakshina Kannada (about 65), along with a total of around 3,500 staff across the state, are facing severe financial distress. These contract workers include staff at the district level such as ADPCs, DMIS, DIEC, account managers, and at the taluk level technical coordinators, technical assistants, TMIS, TIEC, administrative assistants, BFTs, and NREGA data entry operators and Gram Kayaka Mitras in various gram panchayats.

Despite repeated appeals to local and state authorities for salary disbursal, no concrete action has been taken. Following a decision by the Karnataka NREGA Employees Welfare Association, workers have now launched a non-cooperation movement and have resolved not to resume duties until their pending salaries are cleared.

NREGA operations have come to a near standstill across the state. With both individual and community-based NREGA works reliant on the support of these workers, their absence has brought all progress under the scheme to a halt. Sources confirm that in undivided Dakshina Kannada and other districts, the implementation of NREGA has completely stalled.

The crisis began when the central government introduced changes to the salary disbursement system post-December 2024. A new software platform, 'Sparsh', was rolled out to facilitate salary payments through integration with the treasury software and the MGNREGA website under a system called SNA Sparsh. However, due to technical incompatibility between the two systems at the state level, payments have been blocked, despite the central government having released the required funds.

Adding to the workers’ frustration, there are reports that contract employees in the central office in Bengaluru have received their salaries under the old system. Consequently, the protesting workers are demanding that the government revert to the previous system of payment until the new software functions properly.