Karnataka Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister Eshwar B Kh a ndre has directed officials to issue show-cause notices to 308 panchayat development officers, 74 taluk executive officers and 12 zilla panchayat deputy secretaries over delayed wage payments to workers under the VBG RAM G rural employment scheme across 311 gram panchayats in 12 districts.
The minister issued written instructions to the department secretary and the chief executive officers of 12 zilla panchayats after finding that unskilled workers who had completed work were not paid on time, even though wage funds had been released to the gram panchayats. The notices will seek explanations from the officials responsible for processing and supervising the payments.
Khandre had earlier instructed that workers under VBG RAM G should be paid within 15 days. He has now said that the concerned panchayat development officers would be held responsible if payments were not made within that period. The latest delay has prompted dissatisfaction because the affected panchayats fall within districts facing rural distress and drought conditions.
The 311 gram panchayats identified by the department are located in Bagalkot, Belagavi, Chamarajanagar, Chikkamagaluru, Dakshina Kannada, Hassan, Kodagu, Mandya, Mysuru, Shivamogga, Udupi and Vijayapura. Mysuru has the highest number of affected panchayats at 53, followed by Belagavi with 52 and Hassan with 47. Kodagu has 25, while Bagalkot and Udupi have 23 each. Vijayapura has 16 affected panchayats, Dakshina Kannada 15, and Chikkamagaluru and Shivamogga 14 each. Chamarajanagar and Mandya have 13 each.
The minister said administrative delays could undermine the purpose of the employment programme. When wage payments are held up, rural workers may be less willing to report for work even when employment is available locally. Khandre expressed concern that this could push people from drought-affected areas to migrate in search of income.
The programme was introduced by the Karnataka government from July 1 with the stated aim of supporting rural poor households, disadvantaged communities, Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe workers, and landless labourers. The minister said the state had proceeded despite a higher financial burden after the funding ratio was changed from 90:10 under the earlier employment guarantee arrangement to 60:40 under VBG RAM G.
The funding change means Karnataka is required to bear a larger share of the programme cost, but the minister said this could not justify delays in paying workers who had already completed the assigned work. He warned that official negligence would defeat the programme’s purpose of providing support to vulnerable rural households and reducing distress migration.
Khandre has directed the department secretary and the chief executive officers of the 12 zilla panchayats to ensure that wage payments are not delayed in any gram panchayat in future. The officials named in the notices are expected to submit their explanations to the department.
