MGNREGS: What Government Said About Fund Allocation, Payment Delay
The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), which the opposition has been alleging is undergoing an existential threat due to the fund crunch and payment delay under the NDA government, has received the highest fund allocation in the 2024-25 Budget Estimate (BE) stage since its inception, according to a response provided by the government in the parliament.
Congress leaders KC Venugopal and K Sudhakaran had raised the question asking if it is a fact that budgetary allocations for the flagship project introduced by the erstwhile UPA government have fallen short of the demand. The MPs had sought the details of the budget allocations, revised estimates, and actual expenditures for MGNREGS during the last five years.
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The Ministry of Rural Development responded saying that a budget allocation of Rs. 86,000 crores has been made at the Budget Estimate (BE) stage for the financial year 2024-25, underlining that it was the highest-ever allocation under MGNREGS at the Budget Estimate (BE) stage since inception.
It also provided the details of funds allocation at the budget estimate stage, revised estimate stage, and fund released under the program from 2019-20 to 2024-25 budget session. While a total of Rs 86,000.00 crore was the budget estimate, Rs 74,976.84 crore has been released during the last five years, the ministry said.
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The MPs had then sought details of the total amount of pending wage payments under MGNREGS in each state, and to which the ministry said a total of Rs 66,150.28 lakhs are the pending Fund Transfer Orders (FTOs) across 13 states.
Asked about the reasons for the delay in wage disbursement and the average duration of these delays during the past year, the ministry responded that the MGNREGS, as a demand-driven wage employment scheme, states/UTs furnish funds proposals to the Government of India. The Ministry, the reply says, then releases funds periodically in two tranches, with each tranche consisting of one or more installments, keeping in view the “Agreed to Labour Budget,” demand for works, opening balance, pace of utilization of funds, pending liabilities, overall performance, and subject to submission of relevant documents by the States/UTs.
Noting the corrective measures taken to ensure timely payment of wages and to address the funding gaps in MGNREGS, the government said it has made concerted efforts to reduce delays. “A Standard Operating Procedure (SoP) on the timely payment process for direct payment into the account of beneficiaries was issued, and its implementation by the States/UTs is being monitored on a regular basis,” it said, adding that the use of platforms such as the Public Financial Management System (PFMS)/National Electronic Fund Management System (NeFMS) has enabled real-time monitoring of the payments.
