As on July 1, the Union government owes funds to 15 states under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGA) as per the official data published on the Union Rural Development Ministry website, including West Bengal, where last week workers who haven't been paid for five-months hit the streets.
Since January, the Union Rural Development Ministry has not released any funds to West Bengal, citing procedural lapses including absence of social audits to ensure transparency in implementation of the scheme. The centre owes ₹7,130 crore to the State, out of which ₹2,800 crore is just by way of wages of the workers. However, even in the States that do not have these issues, at the end of the first quarter of the financial year, even the first tranche of MNREGA funds hasn't yet landed.
Take for example Bihar, a state ruled by JD(U) and BJP in this financial year, which has an accumulated dues of ₹2,611 crore. The Union Rural Development Minister Giriraj Singh is an MP from Begusarai, Bihar. The centre had released the last instalment in March, just before the last financial year came to a close. As per officials of the State MNREGA department, out of the total pending amount, ₹701.28 crore are dues that the union government owes to MNREGA workers in the State. This amount has not been cleared since June 7, for over 23 days now. This is in direct violation of the MNREGA ACT, which clearly states that the wages have to be paid within a fortnight.
