Udupi: Contractual employees working under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) in Udupi and Dakshina Kannada have launched a non-cooperation protest after enduring salary delays of over five months. This move has led to a complete halt in NREGA-related work in these districts and across Karnataka.

The core issue is a technical glitch in the new ‘Sparsh’ payment software, introduced after December 2024 to integrate salary disbursements with the treasury and MGNREGA systems. Although the central government has released funds, incompatibility at the state level has blocked payments for around 3,500 staff statewide, including around 40 workers in Udupi and 65 in Dakshina Kannada.

Affected staff include a wide range of contract-based roles:

  • District level: ADPCs, DMIS, DIEC, and account managers

  • Taluk and village level: Technical coordinators, assistants, data entry operators, BFTs, and Gram Kayaka Mitras

    • Despite numerous appeals to local and state authorities, there has been no resolution, prompting the Karnataka NREGA Employees Welfare Association to initiate a non-cooperation campaign. Workers have unanimously declared they will not resume duties until all pending salaries are disbursed.

    Insiders also point out that central-level staff in Bengaluru have continued to receive salaries via the old system, fuelling demands for a temporary rollback until the ‘Sparsh’ platform is fully functional.