BANGALORE: Union Minister Oscar Fernandes and other Congress leaders have demanded that the State Government increase the wage paid under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme as many people in the target groups are staying away because they consider the wage too low.

Mr. Fernandes said the Centre launched the scheme on February 2, 2006 in 200 districts based on the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. The scheme was being implemented in 1,091 gram panchayats of five districts in Karnataka: Gulbarga, Bidar, Raichur, Davangere and Chitradurga. The scheme would be extended to all districts in the State in a phased manner, he said.

Mr. Fernandes was inaugurating a one-day workshop on the scheme, for Congress members of panchayati raj institutions, organised by the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) here on Tuesday.

It would be difficult for panchayats to implement the scheme if wages were not revised. The wage had been fixed at Rs. 62.50 a day in the State, he said.

KPCC president M. Mallikarjun Kharge said the party had sent observers to the five districts to gather information about the implementation of the scheme. Over five lakh to six lakh unemployed people had been expected to register themselves under the scheme. But only 66,000 people had registered so far. The minimum wage should be hiked to Rs. 100, or at least Rs. 80, he said.

Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly N. Dharam Singh said Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, who was unaware of national-level schemes, was blaming the Centre for the slow pace of development. The former Railway Minister C.K. Jaffer Sharief asked Mr. Kharge to hold training programmes for party workers at the block level to nurture leadership qualities.

Congress Working Committee member B.K. Hariprasad criticised Janata Dal (S) national president H.D. Deve Gowda for being "anti-development."

Union Minister of State for Planning M.V. Rajasekharan, Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council H.K. Patil and the former Ministers G. Parameshwar and D.K. Shivakumar addressed the members.

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