New Delhi: The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) has not received additional budget for the financial year 2024-25, which has resulted in a delay in disbursal of wages to the workers.
The Union Rural Development Ministry is presently falling short of Rs. 4,315 crore required for the wages, for which a Funds Transfer Order (FTO) has been generated, reported The Hindu.
According to the Section 3 (3) of the MGNREG Act, “the disbursement of daily wages shall be made on a weekly basis or in any case not later than a fortnight after the date on which such work was done.”
The central government also has a liability of Rs. 5,715 crore against its share for material components. The Centre bears 60 per cent cost of the material used for works done under the MGNREGS while the remaining 40 per cent is borne by the states.
As a result, the continued delay in the material component can affect future projects as local vendors can be reluctant to supply raw material owing to non-payment of dues.
Last year, in wake of criticism on low fund allocation for the scheme, the government had said that MGNREGS is a demand-driven scheme, and the additional allocation is made available whenever needed.
During the financial year of 2020-21, when the Covid-19 pandemic forced reverse migration to the villages and the demand for MGNREGS work increased, the government had revised the original allocation of Rs. 61,500 crore to Rs. 1,11,500 crore, one of the highest jumps ever seen.
