A study on National Rural EMPLOYMENT Guarantee Act (NREGA) revealed that workers, especially the tribal ones, in almost all Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA) areas in state have been facing hardships in accessing their wages even after the amounts are credited in their bank accounts.
LibTech India conducted a study on NREGA workers’ hardships in accessing payments from preferred disbursement agencies in tribal areas of AP. The study spanned two years in Paderu ITDA, covering 877 workers from 11 randomly selected shanties out of 44.
The study revealed significant difficulties in accessing wages, with workers investing time and , often sacrificing a day’s income in queues at disbursement agencies.
Banks were scarce and Network connectivity was an issue, with officials at CSPs or BCs charging commission. The study’s focus on MGNREGA workers’ payment access suggested similar issues in cash transfer programmes in AP.
According to the study, 85% of workers primarily use customer service points (CSPs) or business correspondents (BCs) as their primary disbursement agency (DA), while 12.5% use bank branches and a small proportion use ATMs. Workers often have to travel long distances to reach the DAs, with 37% travelling more than 10 km. travelling long distances results in direct costs.