Chennai: Chief minister C Joseph Vijay has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday seeking `modifications and relaxations’ in VBGRAMG. He also wanted the scheme to be continued in the name of Mahatma Gandhi.“The scheme scheduled to commence on July 1 imposes an additional financial burden of over Rs 5000 crore under the new sharing pattern and restrictive operational implications on the state govt,’’ he said in the letter.“Certain provisions of the VBGRAMG Act require critical modifications and relaxations without which the seamless and effective execution of the scheme would suffer significantly and would affect the rural population dependent on the employment programme,’’ he added.The chief minister said the proposed funding model marked a significant departure from the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme,or MGNREGS , which operated under a different financial structure for nearly two decades. The new guidelines propose a 60:40 sharing ratio between the Union and states. This revised formula would place an unsustainable burden on the state exchequer, forcing the govt to either reduce the number of wage employment days available to rural workers or divert funds from other welfare programmes, he said.To avoid this, Vijay urged the Union govt to continue bearing 100% of the expenditure towards wage and administrative components, while sharing the material component in a 75:25 ratio between the Union and the state.Vijay also requested the Centre retain the name of Mahatma Gandhi for the rural employment programme, saying it would honour his legacy and preserve the core ethos and public goodwill associated with the scheme.
