Govt rejects allegations of bias in MGNREGA fund release amid Oppn protest in Lok Sabha

NEW DELHI: Facing Opposition fury over MGNREGA scheme, the government on Tuesday said it has never discriminated against any state in the release of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act funds that guarantees 100 days of employment to eligible rural households.

Opposition members staged a protest in the Lok Sabha against the alleged delay in payment to some states for the rural employment scheme.

As the issue was raised during the Question Hour, the Lok Sabha witnessed protests with DMK and Trinamool Congress MPs entering the Well of the House. Speaker Om Birla urged them to return to their seats, but they did not budge. Following this, the House was adjourned till 12 pm.

Birla urged the Opposition not to “politicise” the questions raised during the Question Hour.

Congress MP from Kerala, Adoor Prakash highlighted a decline in the MGNREGA workforce in his state and attributed it to delayed payments and low wages.

“Workers in Kerala have not received their wages for the past three months, and Rs 811 crore is due under the scheme. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Rural Development has recommended linking MGNREGA wages to inflation and increasing the workdays to 150. Will the government release the pending amount without delay?” Prakash asked.

Minister of State for Rural Development Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani refuted the claims of withholding funds, stating that Kerala has already received nearly Rs 3,000 crore this year.

“Last year, Kerala got Rs 3,500 crore. The release of payments is a continuous process, and whatever is pending will be cleared within the next few weeks,” he assured the House.

Voicing her concern DMK MP Kanimozhi said Tamil Nadu had been waiting for Rs 4,034 crore in MGNREGA payments for the past five months.

“The scheme is demand-driven, and if payments are delayed by over 15 days, they must be paid with interest to workers. The Tamil Nadu chief minister has written to the prime minister, and we have met the minister who assured us that dues would be cleared. But we are still waiting,” she said.

Responding to the concerns, Pemmasani pointed out that the MGNREGA Act, enacted by the UPA government, stipulates that delays beyond 15 days incur a penalty of 0.05 per cent interest.

“According to the law, if there is a delay, the state government initially pays the amount and the central government reimburses it. Tamil Nadu has already received Rs 7,300 crore. With a population of seven crore, Tamil Nadu receives over Rs 10,000 crore, comparable to Uttar Pradesh, which has a population of 20 crore. There is no question of bias,” the minister said.

Defending the government, Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said: “Be it Tamil Nadu or West Bengal, the Modi government has never discriminated against any state. The pending MGNREGA dues, including material costs, will be released soon.’’

“Under UPA, from 2006-07 to 2013-14, only Rs 111 crore was allocated for person-days in West Bengal, while under the NDA, we have created 239 crore person-days and allocated Rs 54,515 crore,” he said.

Pemmasani also said during Question Hour that there were several instances of alleged misappropriation of funds provided to West Bengal under MGNREGA.

Replying to a question about the scheme’s implementation in West Bengal, he said “multiple things went wrong” in the state.

First, there was “misappropriation” of funds and there were instances when works were split and given to contractors on a nominated basis, he said.

“We sent an audit (team). They found 44 works where there were irregularities. They made full recovery in 34 cases. Still, 10 other works need to be completed. The financial misappropriation was to the tune of Rs 5.37 crore. Out of this, they have recovered Rs 2.39 crore. Some of the things still need to be taken care of,” the minister said.

Pemmasani said as soon as these things are taken care of, the Union rural development minister will sit with the state minister and resolve the issues.

Meanwhile, Congress MPs from Kerala along with Rahul Gandhi staged a protest in Parliament premises over the alleged neglect of MGNREGS workers and demanded an increase in their wages to cope with “rising inflation”.

Congress’ Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said the government’s inaction has left millions of families without livelihoods, exacerbating poverty and suffering.

“We demand immediate attention to this crisis and justice for affected workers who are struggling to make ends meet in the absence of wages that are long overdue,” she said.

“The government must ensure: Immediate release of pending wages; Increase in wages to cope with rising inflation; Increase in workdays to 150 days,” the Congress general secretary said.

Besides Priyanka Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, senior Congress leaders KC Venugopal and Shashi Tharoor, among other party MPs from Kerala, participated in the protest.