Aadhaar-based payment for MGNREGA: Central government extends deadline
NEW DELHI: The Central government has extended the deadline for enabling payment of wages for MGNREGA workers through the Aadhaar-based payment system (ABPS) till December 31.
In February this year, the Centre announced that MGNREGA workers would be paid wages on the basis of ABPS to prevent fake identities and irregularities in payments under the scheme.
“The progress of the Aadhaar-based Payment System (ABPS) has been reviewed, and the mixed route of wage payment (NACH and ABPS route) has been extended till December 31, 2023, or till further order,” the rural development ministry said on Wednesday.
“It has been brought to the notice of the Central government that in many cases, due to frequent changes in bank account numbers by the beneficiary and non-updating of the new account number by the concerned programme officer of the same, due to non-submission of the new account by the beneficiary on time, several transactions of wage payment are being rejected (due to the old account number) by the destination bank branch,” the ministry said, while giving the reason for extending the deadline.
At the same time, it has made it clear to all the states that beneficiaries who come for work should be requested to provide an Aadhaar number but will not be refused work on this basis.
APBS is helping genuine beneficiaries get their due payments and is instrumental in curbing corruption by weeding out fake beneficiaries, official sources said.
MGNREGA has not adopted Aadhaar-enabled payment, the ministry clarified, adding that the scheme has opted for ABPS.
If a beneficiary does not demand work, her or his status regarding eligibility for APBS does not affect the demand for work. The ministry clarified further that job cards cannot be deleted on the basis that the worker is not eligible for APBS.
Out of the total 14.33 crore active beneficiaries, Aadhaar has been seeded for 13.97 crore. Against these seeded Aadhaars, a total of 13.34 crore Aadhaars have been authenticated, and 81.89 percent of active workers are now eligible for APBS.
In July 2023, about 88.51 percent of wage payments had been made through APBS. (IANS)
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