Shillong, July 27:

Brief
– Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma says 1,50,000 daily wage earners of 1,84,000 have already received the financial assistance
– Delay in release of financial aid for remaining 34,000 due to verification process
– Money already present in Bank, which will be released the moment verification process is over
– Meghalaya CM urges TUR activist Angela Rangad to call-off her sit-in demonstration

Full Report

Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Tuesday informed that 1,50,000 daily wage earners have already received the financial assistance from the side of the government. For the remaining, their account details and other papers are being verified.

He shared this information in response to the protest of Thma U Rangli-Juki (TUR) leader Angela Rangad, who has been staging a sit-in demonstration infront of the gates of Meghalaya Secretariat in Shillong since July 19, 2021.

Sangma said if Rangad needed to ask or discuss something, she could have met him or other officials instead of sitting infront of Secretariat.

Verification delays payment

The CM informed that the government got a list of 2,20,000 names as daily wage earners last year. Once the NIC and the labour department went through the details they found that there were almost 35,000-40,000 duplicate names.

After removing these names, the number came down to 1,84,000. Out of this, 1,50,000 have already received the benefits of this amount.

“The rest of the money is in the banks where verification of the account details and more additional papers which are missing for the rest of the approximately 30,000-35,000 beneficiaries is still pending,” said Sangma.

He said the delay is purely based on paper verification of beneficiaries and there is no scam or financial irregularity.

Clarification from Labour Department

Principal Secretary of labour department, GHP Raju has informed that last year the government had earmarked Rs 38,11,31,100 as immediate relief for the daily wage earners who faced challenges during the first wave of COVID-19.

“So this amount was released in two instalments. The first installment was released on April 18, 2020, the second instalment was released on June 10, 2020. The total amount was 38.11 crore,” said Raju.

He said there were many beneficiaries who came forward to claim this amount (Rs 700 per week) which was released in three instalments.

The Labour department also created a toll free number, and the labour offices at the district headquarters and the block labour offices were also engaged in collection of data about the information of the claimants or the poor labourers or daily wage earners who lost employment and the wage on account of Covid pandemic.

Angela Rangad has alleged that there has been a scam by the labour department in releasing the financial aid that was promised to the daily wagers and the marginalised sections last year amid the coronavirus-induced lockdowns.