Bengal tops in providing jobs to unskilled labourers in 2021-22 fiscal

Kolkata: West Bengal ranked first in India in providing employment to unskilled labourers and second in the creation of mandays among all states under the 100-days' job scheme in the 2021-22 financial year.

In the recently concluded fiscal, the state Panchayats and Rural Development (P&RD) department has offered employment to 1,11,19765 people while 36,41,17876 mandays have been created under MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act).

Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh are second and third in the employment of unskilled labourers by engaging 10050834 and 9570803 persons respectively.

In the creation of mandays, Rajasthan is the only state ahead with 420320918 mandays being generated. Tamil Nadu is ranked third in this list, having created 345317046 mandays.

Till the conclusion of 2021-22 fiscal, the Centre owes Bengal a whopping Rs 2876.28 crore in connection with wages of unskilled labourers engaged under MGNREGA.

The Centre has also deprived the state by not releasing another Rs 5228.22 crore when it comes to paying wages for the skilled and semi-skilled workforce.

"The Centre's apathy to Bengal is evident even at a time when we have managed to provide employment to over 1 crore unskilled labourers and have ranked first in the financial year. The state has been deprived by the Centre in payment of wages," Pulak Roy, the state P&RD minister, said.

A senior official of the department added that approval has been sought for 33 crore mandays in the 2022-23 financial year.Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has often expressed her concern over the curtailment of allotment for the MGNREGA scheme. In the Union Budget this year, the Centre allotted Rs 73,000 crore for the rural job scheme, which is 25 per cent lower than Rs 98,000 crore, the revised estimate for the plan in the current fiscal.