3.44 lakh transactions were rejected due to tech reasons

JAIPUR: The state MGNREGA department is yet to clear workers’ wages amounting to Rs 45 crore covering 3.44 lakh transactions as the payment got rejected due to various technical reasons, including account getting de-linked with Aadhaar.

The pending amount, which stood at Rs 111 crore covering 6.2 lakh transactions till October 20, however came down by Rs 66 crore covering nearly 3 lakh transactions, an official document said.

Till November 16, the pending amount had come down to Rs 64 crore covering 4 lakh transactions and on November 27 the due amount stood at Rs 45 crore covering 3.44 lakh transactions, it added.

The Rajasthan wing of Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan had conducted a joint workshop in collaboration with the state government in order to address the issue.

“Now, the payment of wages has become Aadhaar linked. When the payment got linked to Aadhaar, it got connected to a different account. Many people have 2-3 accounts (for 2-3 schemes) and they don’t know which account is linked to Aadhaar. There are some 60 reasons for the rejection of payments. After the issue was raised, the administration has paid attention to it and has already made 60% payment,” said social activist Nikhil Dey.

“The most important thing to note is one in every 20 payments gets rejected, i.e. 5%, which is a very big number for MGNREGA,” he added.

MGNREGA commissioner PC Kishan said the districts had been given an ultimatum up to November 30 to clear the dues by 80%. He said the reason for payment rejection is three-fold.

Citing reasons for the rejection in payment of wages, Kishan said, “If the name of the worker in the account does not match with that in his/her Aadhaar card, then the payment will get rejected. Second, say, a worker had opened an account and seeded that with his/her Aadhar number. Now, if he opens another account for some other scheme, the MGNREGA account gets de-linked with Aadhaar. Hence, the transaction gets rejected.”

“Third, if the Aadhaar seeding is not done properly, the transaction fails,” he added.

