Marking digital attendance a concern in remote areas sans mobile coverage

Idukki: Union govt’s mandatory digital attendance through national mobile monitoring system (NMMS) application has created a major crisis in areas lacking mobile network coverage. This has affected attendance recording under Mahatma Gandhi national rural employment guarantee scheme (MGNREGS), especially in tribal regions in the state, including Edamalakkudy, India’s first tribal panchayat.

Centre made digital attendance through NMMS application compulsory from Feb this year. Subsequently, the implementation of MGNREGS has been severely disrupted in several grama panchayats in Idukki where mobile connectivity is either poor or completely unavailable. Seeking urgent intervention, Idukki MP Dean Kuriakose submitted a memorandum to Union rural development minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

Several wards in tribal panchayats such as Marayoor, Edamalakkudy, Shantanpara and Adimali face severe mobile network issues. Tribal workers engaged in worksites located in remote hilly areas are unable to mark attendance through the NMMS application, resulting in a delay in wage disbursal.

In Marayoor grama panchayat, muster roll entries for 19,182 workdays completed between Feb 23 and March 29 in Wards 1, 2 and 3 are yet to be uploaded to the system due to lack of network connectivity. As digital attendance couldn't be recorded, wages of more than Rs 70 lakh remain unpaid to workers in the panchayat.

The affected families, who depend mainly on agriculture and MGNREGS work for survival, are now facing severe financial hardship.

Earlier, in such situations, attendance would be recorded manually through special permission granted at the block level. However, with the new system, block-level authorities no longer have the power to grant such exemptions.

Kuriakose urged Centre to temporarily exempt network-deficient regions in Idukki from the digital attendance system and permit the use of conventional manual muster rolls for attendance and wage disbursal until proper mobile connectivity is ensured in these areas. He urged Centre to urgently intervene in the matter to protect the livelihood of the poor workers.