Chief Minister M. K. Stalin had written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to facilitate disbursement of wages ahead of Deepavali for 20 lakh labourers under MGNREGS, Rural Development Minister K. R. Periyakaruppan said on Saturday.
In a press release, the Minister said the letter was not written to politicise the issue of disbursement of wages under MGNREGS. On Wednesday, Union Minister of State for Fisheries and Information and Broadcasting L. Murugan accused Mr. Stalin of misstating that the Centre had delayed the sanction of funds.
Pointing to the disbursement of ₹3,524.69 crore, released by the Union Government by September 15 to the State, Mr. Periyakaruppan said a letter was written on October 5 seeking to release ₹561.81 crore towards payment of wages for the period between September 15 and October 5.
As the arrears to be paid were increasing, the Minister and the Secretary of the Department met with L. Murugan and the Department Secretary on October 26 to stress the need for releasing the arrears to the tune of ₹1,046.2 crore.
Mr. Stalin wrote the letter on November 1, pointing to pendancy in the release of wages amounting to ₹1,178.12 crore. It was released on November 2, the press release said.
