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Meghalaya Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, 2006

Published vide Notification No. CDD.122/2006/3, dated 28.7.2006

Last Updated 4th December, 2019 [ner744]

(ii) Guidelines means NREGA Operational Guidelines prescribed by the Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India.

(iii) State Employment Council means the State Rural Employment Guarantee Council of Meghalaya constituted under sec 12 of the Act.

(iv) Principal Authority means authority recognized by State Government for purpose of planning , monitoring and implementation of MREG Scheme, which includes Governing Body of DRDA notified as District Employment Council for this purpose at the District level, Block Employment Committee at the Block Level, Area Employment Council and Village Employment Council at the Village level.

(v) Village means Census Village of that Block.

(vi) Traditional Heads means Tribal Traditional Heads such as Nokma., Rangbah Shnong , Durbar Shnong etc., recognized by the District Council in the State of Meghalaya.

(vii) Plain areas means those areas which comes under specific Mouza areas notified by Garo Hills District Council as Plain areas.

(viii) Implementing Agency means Village Employment Council and Line Departments of the Government or any other Organisation identified by the Competent Authority.

(ix) Nodal Department means the Community and Rural Development Department at the State Level for implementation of NREGA.

(x) State Programme Coordinator means the Commissioner and Secretary / Secretary of Community and Rural development Department who is notified as the State Programme Coordinator at the State Level for implementing of the Scheme.

(xi) Registered household means the members of the rural household who have been entered in the application Register as may be prescribed.

(xii) Registered Societies means Societies, Associations or any organization registered under the Meghalaya Registration Societies Act 1983

(xiii) Community Coordinator means any person engaged for purpose of assisting village /area employment council for implementation of MREGS

(xiv) Technical Officer means Executive Engineer or Assistant Engineer or Junior Engineer of DRDA / Block Office or any other assistant engaged for purpose of technical supervision of works under MREGS.

i. The primary objective of the Scheme is to provide livelihood security to the households in rural areas of the notified districts/ areas by providing not less than 100 (one hundred) days of guaranteed wage employment in every financial year to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled and manual work.

ii. Creation of durable assets and strengthening the livelihood resource base of rural poor.

i. Cost of wages.

ii. Three fourths of material cost.

iii. Administrative cost.

iv. The cost of capacity building.

v. Establishment of Programme Officer with the supporting staff including Community Coordinators at village level.

i. 25% of the material and wages of skilled and semi-skilled workers.

ii. Unemployment allowance.

iii. Administrative expenses of the state EG Council.

iv. Other expenses related to implementation of the scheme but not permitted by GOI guidelines.

(ii) The wage rate payable under this scheme shall be the State's Minimum Wage as notified by the Labour Department of the State from time to time. Under no circumstances shall the labourers be paid less than the wage rate. A person working for seven hours would earn a wage equal to the wage rate.

(iii) Payment of wages shall be made at least once in a fortnight.

(iv) Equal wages shall be paid to men and women.

(v) Contractors and as far as practicable, machinery shall not be engaged.

(vi) The cost of material component of projects including the wages of skilled and semi skilled works taken up under this Scheme shall not exceed forty percent of total project costs.

(vii) Only works approved by the Local Councils/ Authorities as specified in the guidelines and the Scheme shall be taken up for implementation.

(viii) No provisions of this Scheme shall be inconsistent with the provisions of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act.

A. Village Employment Council (VEC). - 1. At the village level the Village Employment Council shall be constituted by every village.

2. The members of the VEC will consist of every male and female heads of each household.

3. The VECs shall be invested with the responsibility of Gram Sabha in so far as NREGS Scheme is concerned,after approval by the DPC or his representative i.e. Programme Officer / BDO.

4. There shall be three elected members from each VEC including the traditional headmen and female member to represent VEC at AEC.

5. The meeting of the VEC will be chaired by a village headman/Traditional Village Head and a Secretary for the VEC may be elected by the members of the VEC from amongst the members. These three Office bearers of VEC to represent the AEC shall be elected in a general body meeting of VEC.

B. Area Employment Councils (AECs). - 1. The Area Employment Councils (AECs) shall be constituted at the Cluster level comprising of villages with in a 2.5km radius.

2. This council will consist of 3(three) elected representatives from each VEC.

3. The 3(three) elected members will consist of one female, one male & the Village Traditional Headman / Nokma of the village.

4. The total members of the AEC will not exceed 20 (twenty) numbers.

5. The Cluster level AECs should be identified in consultation and concurrence with the VECs and BECs.

6. 30 % of the members of the AEC must be women , and in case of any shortfall, the BEC may nominate additional women members to ensure that 30% of of the AEC comprises women.

7. The term of the AEC members will be one year.

C. Block Employment Councils (BEC).

•   The existing Block Selection Committee shall be notified as Block Employment Councils (BECs) for every block. And shall be invested with the responsibilities of the Block Panchayat.

D. District Employment Council (DEC).

•   At the District level, the Governing Body of the DRDA shall be notified as the District Employment Council and invested with the responsibilities of the District/Zila Panchayat.

(ii) All persons belonging to a household and registered shall be entitled to employment under the Scheme for as many days as each applicant may request, subject to a maximum of one hundred days per household in a given financial year.

(iii) If an applicant is not provided with such employment within 15 days of receipt of his/ her application seeking employment or from the date on which the employment has been sought in the case of an advance application whichever is later, he/ she shall be entitled to a daily unemployment allowance subject to the entitlement of the household at the rate which shall be as specified under this scheme.

(iv) As far as possible the applicant shall be provided work within the village. If an applicant is provided employment outside a radius of five kilometers of the village where he/ she resides at the time of applying he/ she shall be paid an extra 10% of the prevailing wage rate to meet additional transportation and living expenses.

(v) Priority shall be given to women in such a way that at least one-third of the wage seekers shall be women who have registered and requested for work.

(vi) In case the payment of wages is not made within a fortnight, the workers shall be entitled to receive payment of compensation as per the provisions of the Payment of Wages Act 1936 (4 of 1936) Compensation Cost shall be borne by the State Government.

(vii) Workers are entitled for work site facilities like safe drinking water, shade for children and periods of rest, first-aid box with adequate material for emergency treatment of minor injuries and other health hazards connected with the work.

(viii) If the number of children below the age of six years accompanying the women, working at any site is five or more, one women worker shall be engaged to look after the children and she shall be paid wage rate as admissible to others working on the project.

(ix) If any injury is caused to a person employed under the Scheme by accident arising out of and in the course of his/her employment, such person shall be entitled to medical treatment free of charge as admissible under the scheme.

(x) Where hospitalization of the injured worker at the work site is necessary, such arrangements shall be made including accommodation, treatment and medicines. The injured worker shall be paid a daily allowance not less than half of the wage rate required to be paid had the injured been engaged in the work.

(xi) If any personal injury is caused by accident to a child accompanying any person who is employed under the Scheme, such child shall be entitled to, free of charge, medical treatment.

(xii) If the person employed dies or becomes permanently disabled by accident arising out of and in the course of employment, he/ she shall be paid an ex-gratia at the rate of Rs. 25,000 or such amount as may be notified by the Central Government, and the amount shall be paid to the disabled or legal heirs of the deceased, as the case may be.

(ii) The AEC shall be responsible for receiving applications for registration and for issuance of Job Cards. There shall be a Community Coordinator to assist the Gram Sevak and the VEC in maintaining the records and also to assist the Technical Assistants being provided at the Block level.

(iii) At the Block-level, the BEC shall be the principal authority for planning and implementation of the Scheme. It will finalise and approve block level plan which consists of consolidated shelf of projects to be taken up under the scheme, supervise and monitor the projects taken up in the block and perform such other functions as may be assigned by the DEC and the State Council.

(iv) There shall be a Programme Officer(PO) at each Block level. The Programme Officer will be a full-time dedicated officer and may be taken on deputation. Fresh recruitment may also be made on contract. The PO has a critical role in coordinating implementation processes at the Block-level. He will be responsible for scrutinising village EGS plans, ensuring that they match works with employment demand, that implementing agencies start works on time, that the employment demand is met within time and workers receive their due entitlements. Among his important functions are ensuring the social audit, disposing complaints and grievance redressal. The PO will assist the BEC and the AEC in its functions under the Scheme. The Programme Officer shall function under the direction, control and superintendence of the District Program Coordinator. The PO shall be assisted by one Accountant-cum-Computer Assistant.

(v) The Block Employment Council and all the line departments concerned and the Registered Societies of repute , SHG federations, and Watershed Committees will be responsible to mobilize and build capacities of the wage-seekers to access their rights and entitlements provided under the Scheme.

(vi) At the District-level, the District Employment Council shall be the principal authority for planning and implementation of the Scheme. The DEC shall approve the District Employment Guarantee Scheme Plan, which includes the consolidated Block EGS plans, its own proposals and project proposals received from other line departments. It shall also review the programme implementation, supervise and monitor projects taken up at the District and Block levels and perform such other works as may be assigned by the State Council.

(vii) The Deputy Commissioner or a district level officer of appropriate rank shall be the District Program Coordinator (DPC) for the implementation of the Scheme in the District. There shall be an EGS unit established in the office of the Project Director DRDA to assist the DPC. The DPC shall be assisted by the Project Director, DRDA or a District Program Officer designated for this purpose. The PD DRDA shall assist the DPC in overall management of the Scheme. The PD, DRDA and the Registered Societies / Government Agencies identified by District Programme Coordinator shall assist the DPC in the mobilization of wage seeking families through the Self-Help Groups of women and their Federations at Village, Block and District level.

(viii) At the State-level, the Commissioner & Secretary, Community & Rural Development shall be the State Programme Coordinator (SPC). He/ she shall be assisted by an EGS unit.

(ix) The Director, SIRD, shall provide capacity building support to the Block level implementing agencies and the line departments.

(x) Government Agencies/ Registered Societies/ SHGs , authorized by the Central or State Government shall be involved as partners in community mobilization, capacity building, social audit and monitoring of processes relating to rights and entitlements of the workers.

(ii) A Job Card (Form 3) with unique ID number will be issued to the household that has been registered. These details shall be maintained in the 'EGS Job Card Register'. The joint photograph of the adult members of the household must be affixed to the Job Card within three months from the date of issue of the Job Card.

(iii) The AEC along with the Community Coordinator/ Gram Sevak shall update the household Job Card at the time of payment of wages. The wage-days provided and the wages paid to the workers shall be reflected in the Job Card and the Employment Register.

(iv) Addition or deletion of members eligible to seek work shall be carried out in the Job Card as and when required or at the beginning of the financial year. The updated list shall be sent to the Program Officer.

(v) A cardholder may apply for a duplicate card if the original card is lost or damaged. The issuing authority shall verify the case and issue a duplicate card within 7 working days of receipt of the application.

(ii) The AEC shall accept the applications for work. The applications shall be valid if the wage employment sought by a household is at least for 14 days and the aggregate employment provided to the household is not more than 100 days. List of all such applications shall be maintained in the 'Applications for Work Register' (Form 6).

(iii) The AEC shall direct the applicant or group of applicants in writing (Form 7), to work in any ongoing work or by starting a new work, within 15 days of receiving applications seeking work or from the date of work being sought in case of advance application, whichever is later. Necessary entries shall be made in the 'Applications for Work Register'.

(iv) Disabled persons may be provided wage-employment by entrusting suitable works in the form of services that are identified as integral to the programme.

(v) If it is not possible to provide work within the village area the applications for work shall be forwarded to the PO. The PO shall coordinate with other villages within the Block and issue letter of employment to the applicant in the village where work is available, by marking a copy to both the VEC concerned and the BDO.

(ii) The liability to pay unemployment allowance to any household shall cease as soon as one or more of the following conditions are fulfilled:

(a) The applicant is directed by the AEC or the PO to report for work either by himself/ herself or depute at least one adult member of his/her household;

(b) Or the period for which employment is sought comes to an end and no member of the household of the applicant had turned up for employment;

(c) Or the adult members of the household of the applicant have received in total at least one hundred days of work within the financial year;

(d) Or the household of the applicant has earned as much from the wages and unemployment allowance taken together which is equal to the wages for one hundred days of work during the financial year.

(iii) The rate of unemployment allowance shall be one fourth of the wage rate rounded off to the next rupee for the first thirty days during the financial year and shall be one half of the wage rate rounded off to the next rupee for the remaining period of the financial year.

(iv) In all cases where unemployment allowance is paid or due to be paid, the PO shall inform the DPC in writing the reasons why it was not possible to provide employment or cause to provide employment to applicants.

(i) Water conservation and water harvesting.

(ii) Drought proofing (including afforestation and tree plantation).

(iii) Irrigation canals, including micro and minor irrigation works;

(iv) Provision of irrigation facility to land owned by households belonging to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes or to land of beneficiaries of land reforms or that of the beneficiaries of Indira Awas Yojana program.

(v) Renovation of traditional water bodies including desilting of tanks.

(vi) Land Development

(vii) Flood control and protection works, including drainage in water logged areas.

(viii) Rural connectivity to provide all-weather access.

(ix) Any other work, which may be notified by the Central Government in consultation with the State Government.

(ii) The DPC shall arrive at the value of all works that need to be taken up to meet the anticipated labour demand and communicate the proportionate value of works to be identified by the Villages, Blocks and the District in the ratio of 50:25:25 among VEC, BEC and DEC.

(iii) The proportion between wage and material component in the ratio of 60:40 shall be maintained in respect of the works proposed. The material component shall include material and skilled / semi-skilled labour.

(iv) The AEC shall facilitate conduct of General body meeting of VEC(s) for identification and prioritization of works within the allocations indicated to it by the DPC.

(v) The VEC(s) shall recommend approval as the Village EGS Plan duly showing the priority of the works.

(vi) The AEC shall forward its EGS Plan to the Program Officer through Gram Sevak along with the indication of works it proposes to execute by itself.

(vii) If the identified works are not sufficient to meet the anticipated wage demand, the PO can call for additional proposals from the AEC.

(viii) The PO shall scrutinize the annual plan received from the VEC for its technical feasibility and satisfy himself / herself that the plan meets the likely demand for employment based on the registrations and previous experience.

(ix) The PO shall examine the proposals in the annual plan and record his/ her observations on the proposals and submit a consolidated statement of proposals to the BDO.

(x) The BEC shall propose works that may involve more than one Village within the allocations indicated by the DPC. The BEC shall assign priority to the works proposed by it. The BEC shall not change the priorities indicated by the villages. The PO shall consolidate the EGS plans received from the AECs along with the proposals from the BEC. Then the PO shall submit the consolidated EGS plan for the Block and submit the proposal to DPC through BDO.

(xi) The DPC shall scrutinize the plan proposals of all the Blocks examining the adequacy and appropriateness of works in terms of likely demand as well as their technical and financial feasibility. He/ she will also invite and examine work proposals from other executing agencies. He/ she will consolidate all these proposals and place before the DEC. The DEC shall not change the priorities indicated by the Villages and the Blocks in their EGS plans. The DEC shall propose works that may involve more than one Block within its allocation and approve the District EGS plan. The DPC shall accord administrative sanctions for all the works approved under the District EGS plan. The administrative sanction proceedings of the DPC shall clearly show the priority number of the work as indicated by the VEC/ BEC/ DEC and also the details of the executing agency.

(xii) New works except those relating to afforestation and in hilly areas shall be commenced only if:

(a) at least fifty labourers become available for such work

(b) the labourers cannot be absorbed in the ongoing works

(xiii) Each work administratively sanctioned shall be assigned a unique identification number.

(xiv) The list of works administratively sanctioned should be forwarded to the PO who will send it to the concerned executing agencies for technical sanctions. The technically sanctioned works shall be sent back to the PO , who shall maintain these as Shelf of Works.

(ii) Estimates for works of value above Rs. 2.00 lakh shall be prepared by Block Assistant Engineer or any other Works department of the State Government.

(iii) For all works up to Rs.2.00 lakh technical sanction shall be accorded by Block Assistant Engineer.

(iv) Above Rs. 2.00 lakh and up to Rs. 5.00 lakh technical sanction shall be accorded by the Assistant Engineer / Executive Engineer of DRDA or equivalent officer of any other Works department of the Government.

(v) Above Rs.5.00 lakh and up to Rs. 20.00 lakh technical sanction shall be accorded by the Executive Engineer of DRDA or any other Works department of the Government.

(ii) While executing the works, the norms under the Scheme shall be followed.

(iii) The Muster Rolls shall be supplied from District EGS cell to PO. Each Muster Roll shall be uniquely numbered. The PO will issue the duly numbered Muster Rolls to executing agencies, which shall maintain such Muster Rolls for every work. The executing departments shall maintain a stock register of the Muster Rolls. The Muster Rolls shall be closed once a week.

(ii) The Community Coordinator shall measure the work done and record in M-Book and close the Muster Roll at the end of each week. He/she shall read out the entries in the M-Book and Muster Roll to the workers at the worksite. The entries in the Muster Roll are to be attested by three representatives of the workers. The AEC shall submit the M-Book and closed Muster Rolls to the PO within 24 hours of closure of the Muster Rolls. The Technical Officer shall check-measure the work done and Muster Roll every alternate week. The PO shall issue the pass order for payment of wages to the workers and send cheque/draft directly to the Bank Account of VEC which will be operated as a joint account with two designated signatories from the AEC. (In case of Chokpot and Rongara block areas of South Garo Hills, payment may be made in cash till such time as adequate bank branches come up in these blocks) They in turn shall ensure payment of wages to the workers and to suppliers of material based on M-Book. Where the AEC makes payment to the workers, it shall be ensured that it is done at a public place after reading out the Muster Roll. It shall be ensured that the number of days of work and payment are entered in the household Job Card and the same shall also be entered in the Employment Register maintained at the village level. It may be noted that the AEC shall operate the bank account on the basis of a resolution by the VEC(s) and a statement of account shall be presented to the VEC(s) annually.

(ii) An Information Wall shall be built in every village. One side of the Wall shall be painted with long-term information like task-wise wage rates to be adopted for the year, non-negotiables, important guidelines, shelf of works identified etc. The other side of the wall shall be updated with weekly information like work-wise number of labour working, materials procured and consumed, expenditure etc.

(iii) The PO shall be the Public Information Officer (PIO) for the Scheme, under the Right to Information Act at the Block level and the Gram Sevak shall be the Public Information Officer at the village level. The DPC shall be the appellate authority under the Scheme. The PIO shall make available the copies of the documents/ registers for verification and sale on cost as per the provisions of the RTI Act. The PO shall make available to the village level executing agencies the estimates of the works commenced, copies of Muster Rolls, pay orders for facilitating public scrutiny and to ensure transparency, accountability and facilitate social auditing.

(ii) The village level executing agency shall fill the MIS format and send to BDO and PO. PO shall compile, analyse this data and take appropriate remedial actions. He /she shall forward the reports to DPC with specific remarks. The DPC shall send the reports to SPC at quarterly intervals. SPC shall also submit quarterly reports to the Government of Meghalaya and Government of India. State EG Council shall submit an annual report to the State Legislature.

(iii) SPC shall impanel reputed agencies to carry out impact assessment. The DPC shall engage agencies to carry out studies specific to district, which are not covered by the agencies employed by SPC. The Impact Assessment Reports shall be put before the State EG Council and also be submitted to Government of Meghalaya and Government of India. SPC shall take appropriate remedial measures based on the reports of the above studies.