'Centre diverts Rs 22K cr MGNREGS funds meant for Bengal to TN, UP, Bihar'
Kolkata: A substantial sum of Rs 22,000 crore, which the Bengal government was scheduled to receive under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) for the financial years 2023 to 2025, has allegedly been diverted to other states, including Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
Release of funds to Bengal has been stopped since March 9, 2022. At a time when the states like Tamil Nadu (TN), Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Bihar have seen their share to grow, Bengal has seen total stoppage in funds disbursements.
Reportedly, the highest the states had reportedly drawn was during Covid in FY21 at about Rs 1.1 lakh crore, when rural distress was real. The spending was Rs 96,812 crore in FY22, Rs 88,290 crore in FY23, Rs 88,217 crore in FY24 and Rs 85,771 crore in FY25.
Tamil Nadu which received Rs 9,707 crore in FY23 under the scheme, saw its pie grow to Rs 12,603 crore in FY24, amid allegations that the scheme was used to fund state projects or machines were used for projects instead of labour.
Bihar’s share also gradually grew from Rs 5,407 crore in FY22 to over Rs 6,700 crore in FY25. UP’s share rose from Rs 8,510 crore to Rs 10,269 crore in FY23, before declining to around Rs 9,700 crore in FY25. Maharashtra saw its share rising from Rs 2,056 crore in FY22 to Rs 4,900 crore in FY25.
Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on repeated occasions attacked the central government, accusing it of withholding funds for key welfare schemes and forcing the state to shoulder the financial burden alone. MGNREGS aims to provide at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in a financial year to every household in rural areas of the country, whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work, mainly during off-seasons.
The Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Central government in December last year clashed in Parliament over the disbursal of funds under the MGNREGS to the state, after TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee had claimed in the Lok Sabha that the Bengal government was yet to receive funds under the central scheme for the fiscal years 2022-2023 and 2023-2024.
