Works under MGNREGS : Proposal to form House panel turned down
Source: The Sangai Express / DIPR

Imphal, February 11 2021: The State Assembly has rejected a proposal made by Opposition MLA Okram Surjakumar to form a House committee which would verify the total liability of Rs 514 crore submitted for MGNREGS works.

Raising a supplementary question during question hour today, MLA Surjakumar proposed constitution of a House committee to verify the total liability of Rs 514 crore submitted to the authority concerned for works done under MGNREGS at the level of Assembly segments.

Responding to the question, Rural Development and Panchayati Raj (RD&PR) Minister Th Biswajit said that there are many Government machinery and it would not be appropriate to form a House committee by suppressing the authority concerned.

Replying to a query raised by Surjakumar about pending wage and material components, Biswajit said that the Ministry of Rural Development has released Rs 83.66 crore as per a proposal submitted by the administrative department concerned and the Ministry has already initiated due process to release the remaining amount.

Whereas the total amount claimed by the administrative department is Rs 690 crore, the sum of Rs 83.66 crore is balance amount, Biswajit said.

MGNREGS works were not interrupted during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The labour budget has been already approved and no State share is pending, Biswajit said.

Although the total number of mandays specified in the labour budget was 30, job card holders worked for 43 days and thus the State was able to draw additional funds, he continued.

The Government has been working to introduce National Electronic Fund Management System so that MGNREGS wages can be transferred to bank accounts of job card holders from June this year.

For this, bank accounts must be linked with Aadhaar numbers.

Job card holders' data of 36 blocks out of the total 70 blocks have been sent to the Ministry for introduction of the electronic fund management system.

But the remaining 34 blocks are not yet ready for the electronic system, said the RD&PR Minister.

He said that loopholes and discrepancies in implementation of MGNREGS are being checked at the level of Assembly segments.

In certain cases, necessary action was taken up while warnings were issued in some other cases, he added.

Deputy Chief Minister (Finance in-charge) Yumnam Joykumar stated that the Government would consider suggestions to review VAT on petroleum products.

He made the assurance while replying to a starred question and supplementary questions raised by MLA Surjakumar.

He also informed the House that the existing VAT (Value Added Tax) levied on petroleum products in the State is comparatively similar to other North Eastern States Joykumar stated that the increments/revisions in VAT on petroleum products like petrol and diesel was done three times since 2017 on 4th October, 2018, 22nd October 2019 and 6th May 2020.Further stating that public notice was issued by the Government for the increments/revisions of the 22nd October 2019, he said that for the other two cases namely 4th October, 2018 and 6th May 2020, the 14 days public notice was not issued.

Explaining the reason for not issuing the 14 days public notice on the increments/revisions in the two cases, he said that the increments/revision done on 4th October 2018, reduced VAT on petrol from 25% to 21.2% and that of diesel from 14.5% to 10.6% .

The 14 days public notice was not issued as the Government had decided to transfer the benefit of tax decrease in petrol and diesel immediately to the consumers.

Further he clarified that the non issuance of the 14 days public notice for the 6th May 2020 revision was due to the urgent need for additional resources to meet the high expenses incurred due to COVID–19 pandemic.

During the time of unprecedented emergency, there was a sharp decline in both GST and VAT collection.

On the other hand, there was an urgent requirement of huge resources to combat the pandemic, he added.

RD&PR Minister Th Biswajit while replying to a starred question from MLA N Loken Singh stated that under PMAY-G scheme, 18,640 houses had been allotted for FY 2016-17 to 2019-20.Out of 18,640 units, 18,455 units had started construction and about 10,030 units had been completed.

He said that for the FY 2020-21, a target of about 15,842 houses have been allotted.

Out of the allotted target, 13,861 have been sanctioned till date but funds for the above houses are yet to be released by the MoRD.

The amount per house under PMAY–G is Rs 1,30,000 .

Works Minister Th Biswajit while replying to a starred question from MLA Karam Shyam said that the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways has sanctioned the strengthening and widening of Imphal-Moreh section of NH-102 from 320.320 km to 330.00 km during the year 2020-21, with a target to complete the project within 18 months.

Water Resources Minister Letpao Haokip answering to a starred question raised by Th Lokeshore on the status of Dolaithabi Barrage Project said that the project is programmed to be completed by March 2021 but due to the pending Court cases on purchase of land for construction of right main canal, the canals are not fully functional.

He further added that the compensation amount of Rs.8,29,22,000 for 243 households for the right main canal has been deposited with the DC, Imphal East.

229 pattadars have already been compensated whereas compensation amounting to Rs 53.04 lakh for 14 pattadars is still with the DC due to a pending Court case.

The Manipur Legislative Assembly today adopted that the time appointed for presentation of the Report of Select Committee on the Manipur Liquor Prohibition (Second Amendment) Bill, 2018 (Bill No.9 of 2018) be extended for a period of three months.

The House also adopted that the time appointed for the presentation of the Report of the Enquiry Committee, Manipur Legislative Assembly constituted to enquire into the fraudulent withdrawal of money in the Department of Tribal Affairs and Hills Development to be extended for a period of three months.

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