Kolkata: The West Bengal government on Thursday
hiked the daily wages of workers under National Rural
Employment Guarantee Scheme from Rs 81 to Rs 100, bringing it
on par with the Centre.
Announcing the decision, Panchayat and Rural Development
minister Anisur Rahaman said altogether 1.38 crore families
have NREGS job cards, while nearly five crore people are
indirectly dependent on the scheme.
Under the scheme, people in the state got jobs for 23
days last year and this has been now been increased to 26
days, he said, adding that it would be raised to 40 days next
year.
However, the state is still far away from the guaranteed
minimum of 100 days work.
PTI
First Published: Thursday, December 17, 2009, 18:31