Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Finance Minister K N Balagopal on Friday announced an Onam festival allowance of Rs 1,000 for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) and the Ayyankali Urban Employment Guarantee Scheme (AUEGS) workers who have completed 100 working days.
According to the minister, a total of 4.6 lakh people will receive the allowance and Rs 46 crore has been sanctioned by the finance department for the same.
The MGNREG Scheme is aimed to enhance the livelihood security of the people in rural areas by generating wage employment through works that develop the infrastructure base of that area, while the Ayyankali Urban Employment Guarantee Scheme, devised by the state government, aims to provide a strong, rights-based social safety net for people residing in the urban areas of Kerala.
The Ayyankali scheme would give beneficiaries a fallback job source when other employment alternatives are scarce or inadequate and it has been envisioned along the lines of MGNREGS.
Earlier this week, the Kerala government announced a bonus of Rs 4,000 for state-sector employees in connection with the Onam season.
The LDF dispensation had also announced Rs 2,750 as a special festival allowance for those government employees who are not entitled to the bonus. Service pensioners and personnel retired under the contributory pension scheme will also receive a Rs 1,000 festive allowance.
With inputs from PTI