Govt committed to release funds for MGNREGA scheme

New Delhi: Amid the doubts being raised by non-BJP ruled state governments and activists over the shortage of funds under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), the government on Saturday reiterated that the Centre is committed to release funds for wage and material payments for proper implementation of the MGNREGA.

Notably, the government has issued a statement after a group of activists flagged an "acute shortage" of funds under the rural employment guarantee programme MGNREGA despite a pandemic-induced surge in demand for work and said that almost 90 per cent of the allocated budget has been used up with five months remaining of the financial year.

The Rural Development Ministry, in a statement, said that whenever additional fund is required, the Ministry of Finance is requested to provide it.

Underlining that the Centre's flagship rural employment guarantee programme is a lifeline for millions of rural poor, especially in times of the Covid-19 pandemic, the People's Action for Employment Guarantee (PAEG) in a statement on Friday had said that the total budget for it in 2021-22 is 34 per cent less than that of the previous year.

PAEG is a group of activists who were earlier members of the Central Employment Guarantee Council, a statutory body under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).

In the Union Budget presented earlier this year, the government allocated Rs 73,000 crore to the scheme for the financial year 2021-22. It was 34 per cent less than the 2020-21 revised estimate of Rs 1.11 lakh crore.

In the previous financial year, the Centre had revised the allocation to Rs 1.11 lakh crore from an initial allocation of Rs 61,500 crore.

"During the first wave of Covid-19 in 2020, millions of rural poor turned to MGNREGA in historically high numbers since it was the only source of basic income security. A total of 7.75 crore households were provided work in the financial year 2020-21," said Nikhil Dey, a PAEG working group member.