New Delhi: The Lok Sabha on Tuesday, March 25, saw a heated exchange over disbursal of funds under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act Scheme (MGNREGS) with opposition members raising the delay in payment of central funds to Kerala and Tamil Nadu, and the three-year pause in payment to West Bengal.
Opposition members began protests after the junior minister for rural development Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani said that despite a population of seven crore, Tamil Nadu gets more funds than Uttar Pradesh, which has a population of 20 crores. Pemmasani said that “multiple things” that had gone wrong in West Bengal.
Amid loud protests from opposition members who were seen in the well of the House, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla asked lawmakers not to raise their “own regional political agenda” during the Question Hour and adjourned the House briefly.
Delay in funds to Kerala and Tamil Nadu
The delay in payment of MGNREGS funds was raised in the Question Hour by Congress MP Adoor Prakash who referred to the parliamentary standing committee report that had suggested linking the MGNREGS payments to inflation and increasing work days. and alleged that Kerala had not been paid dues worth Rs 811 crores.
“Workers in Kerala have not received payment in the last three months. Rs 811 crore is to be released to Kerala,” he said and asked if it will be released.
“Wages are continuously increased every year based on CPI [Consumer Price Index] of agricultural labour. Kerala has one of the second highest wages [under the scheme] next to Haryana. Kerala has already got close to Rs 3,000 crore this year. Last year you got Rs 3,500 crore. The release of payments is a continuous process. Whatever is pending will be cleared within the next few weeks,” said Pemmasani in response.
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam MP Kanimozhi said that while the scheme is a demand-driven scheme, the Union government owes Rs 4,034 crore in MGNREGS funds to Tamil Nadu over the past five months.
“When are you going to give the dues? And since it is delayed by five months will you give the interest?” she asked in a supplementary question to TMC MP Bapi Haldar’s question on the long pause on funds to West Bengal.
‘Tamil Nadu population lesser but gets more than Uttar Pradesh’
Pemmasani said that if there is a delay, the Act brought in by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance – which was last in power in 2014 – provides that the dues must first be paid by the state government.
“The MNGREGA was brought by the UPA government. If there is a delay by 15 days 0.05% interest will be paid and according to the Act if there is a delay first the state government will pay and the central government will reimburse the money,” he said.
“As I said, Tamil Nadu has already received Rs 7,300 crore this year. Tamil Nadu has a population of seven crores, Uttar Pradesh has a population of 20 crores. UP draws close to Rs 10,000 crore, Tamil Nadu draws more than Rs 10,000 crore. There is no question of not giving money,” the minister said, amid uproar from the opposition benches.
However, according to the ‘Scheme at a Glance’ report on the MGNREGS website, in this fiscal year (2024-25) Rs 741,451.45 has been released for Tamil Nadu while Rs 975872.85 has been released for Uttar Pradesh by the Union government. The total expenditure, the website says, for Uttar Pradesh is Rs 11,88,600.07 while for Tamil Nadu it is Rs 10,70,601.4.
According to Union minister of rural development Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s written reply to Haldar’s question on Tuesday, barring financial years 2021-22 and 2023-24, Uttar Pradesh received more funds from the Union government under the scheme.
The reply had the following figures on what the two states received as in till March 18, 2025:
| Tamil Nadu (in Rs crore) | Uttar Pradesh (in Rs crore) | |
| 2021-22 | 9638.13 | 8509.57 |
| 2022-23 | 9706.62 | 10629.01 |
| 2023-24 | 12603.36 | 9808.55 |
| 2024-25 | 7391.30 | 9739.87 |
In the same reply, Chouhan claimed that MGNREGS is a demand driven scheme and funds are released according to demand for work on the ground.
“Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme is a demand driven wage employment Scheme. Fund release to the States/Union Territories is a continuous process and Central Government is committed for making funds available to States/UTs for the implementation of the Scheme as per demand for work on the ground,” Chouhan said in his written reply.
No MGNREGS funds to West Bengal since 2022
The supplementary questions came following TMC MP Bapi Haldar’s question in which he referred to the minister’s written response on the details of funds under MGNREGS to say that it showed that West Bengal had not received funds since 2022 and asked when they will be released.
“This year we have budgeted Rs 86,000 crores to MGNREGA. Out of that Rs 85,000 crores [have] been released to all the states,” said Pemmasani. With regard to West Bengal, the minister said that “multiple things went wrong”.
“One there was misappropriation of funds. Second, they have split the works and given to contractors in a nominated basis. I will give you all the right information. We sent an audit. In 44 works there were irregularities. They made full recovery in 34 cases. Still, 10 other works need to be completed. The financial misappropriation was of Rs 5.37 crore. Out of this, they have recovered Rs 2.39 crore. Some of the things still need to be taken care of. Our minister will sit with their minister and resolve these issues,” he said.
In his supplementary question, Haldar said that the Union government should take action against misappropriation but those who have worked must be paid as poor workers are left without payment.
‘Furthering regional political agenda’
As opposition members protested against Pemmasani’s statement, minister Chouhan said that the Union government has not discriminated against either West Bengal or Tamil Nadu.
“Whether it is Tamil Nadu or West Bengal, the Modi government has never discriminated against any state. The pending MGNREGA dues, including material costs, and wages will be released soon,” he said.
Chouhan said that under the UPA government from 2006-07 to 2013-14, only 111 crore person-days of work was generated under the scheme in West Bengal while in comparison 239 crore person-days have been generated in the state under the Modi government and funds worth Rs 54,515 crore have been allocated.
As opposition members continued to protest, members were seen at the well of the house.
“You can ask questions during the Question Hour but you cannot further your state’s political agenda, is against the dignity of the house,” said Birla and adjourned the House for 15 minutes.
