‘Only 4% of MGNREGA budget available with five months to go in current FY’

New Delhi: Only four per cent of the budget for the flagship Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) remains available with five months to go in the current financial year, an analysis of the data uploaded by the Rural Development Ministry by a civil society group said.

An analysis of the figures on the Rural Development Ministry’s website by the NREGA Sangharsh Morcha showed that Rs 2,456 crore was available on October 4 under the scheme’s budget for this year.

The pending dues, including the wage, material and administration components, amount to over Rs 17,364 crore.

The Centre bears the whole burden of wage and administration components, while the expenditure under the material component is shared by the Centre and the State (75:25).

As per the data, West Bengal, which has not received dues for the MGNREGA and the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) for around last two years, has payments of Rs 4,106 crore pending.

Rajasthan has Rs 2,970 crore due, Bihar has Rs 1,054 crore, while Karnataka has Rs 968 crore pending. However, only Rs 2,465 crore of the allocated budget for the scheme is available, with many states having a negative balance.