The Centre has launched an electronic fund management system for direct and faster release of wages under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee (MNREGA) scheme.

Kerala has been chosen for the pilot project, of which State Bank of Travancore (SBT) is the sponsor bank.

Immediate credit

The National Electronic Fund Management System (NeFMS) will enable direct and immediate credit of wages into the accounts of the 21 lakh MNREGA beneficiaries (of which 90 are women) in the state. Of this, an estimated 50 per cent maintain accounts with SBT, a bank spokesman said.

Under NeFMS, the grama panchayat and blocks, after due verification of work and muster rolls, generates an electronic fund transfer order to transfer the wages directly into the beneficiary accounts.

The new platform ensures transfer of wages to the workers’ accounts within 48 hours of the issue of the order, the spokesman said.

This pilot would enable grama panchayats to take up work as per the agreed labour budget without having to wait for the release of funds.

The benefit to the Centre is that it would need to release funds only on the basis of actual progress of work and without delay.

Programme launched

Launching the scheme at the SBT head office on Friday, KV Mohan Kumar, Commissioner for Rural Development, said the pilot will help avoid delays in the credit of wages to beneficiaries.

The number of beneficiaries in Kerala is higher than other States. A team from Punjab had come to Kerala to study how the scheme was being implemented as the numbers were much lower there.

The total wage component of the MNREGA payout is about ₹2,300 crore in Kerala.

Jeevandas Narayan, Managing Director, SBT, said the bank was the sole sponsor bank for MNREGA in the State and the average payments processed averaged three lakh daily.

Abdul Kalam Azad, Joint Development Commissioner, MNREGA, complimented SBT for handling the files in a professional way without delays.

Published on January 8, 2016