Centre Owes ₹3,000 Crore to Bengal in MGNREGA Dues, Govt Tells Rajya Sabha

The Centre owes West Bengal over ₹3,000 crore, the highest among states, under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), the government informed the Rajya Sabha on Friday, claiming that the funds transfer was stopped due to non-compliance of its directives.

Pending liabilities in case of West Bengal include wage, material and admin component, and release of funds to the state has been stopped since March 9, 2022, as per provisions of Section 27 of MGNREGA, 2005, due to non-compliance with directives of the central government, MoS Rural Development Kamlesh Paswan said.

Among other states and Union Territories mentioned in the reply, the highest pending wage liability is for Andhra Pradesh, to which the Centre owes ₹1,684.39 crore, while it owes Bihar ₹893.57 crore in wage payments, ₹694.76 to Uttar Pradesh, and ₹456.31 crore for Telangana.

In a written reply to a question by TMC's Prakash Chik Barik, who asked about the pending dues under the scheme for different states, including West Bengal, MoS Rural Development Kamlesh Paswan said ₹3,038 crore is the pending amount for West Bengal.

The minister, in his reply clarified that there is no pending liability for previous years for wage component in case of any states or Union Territory, except in case of West Bengal.

Replying to another question, the government informed the Rajya Sabha that there are 256.32 lakh workers registered under MGNREGS in West Bengal.

Paswan said under MGNREGA, in the current financial year (as on July 28) an amount of ₹47,567 crore has been released to states and Union Territories, including ₹39,595 crore for wage component.

Last week, Trinamool Congress MPs had slammed the government for not including the name of West Bengal in a reply on the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS).

In response to a question by TMC's Derek O'Brien, Rural Development Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, in a written reply, had listed the state/Union Territory-wise pending liabilities under MGNREGS, but the name of West Bengal was not in the list.

TMC MPs as well as those from the Congress had attacked the government on the issue.  The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Rural Development, in a report released in March this year, had said the suspension of funds to West Bengal under MGNREGS and other schemes has led to "severe consequences", including a sharp increase in distress migration and disruptions in rural development initiatives.