Citing ground surveys that revealed large scale corruption and violation of the guidelines, Union Ministry of Rural Development in December 2021 invoking Section 27 of the MGNREGA that allows “stoppage of release of funds” in case of “improper utilisation” of funds, has not paid the State funds since. File
| Photo Credit: The Hindu
In an attempt to embarrass the Centre into restarting the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) in West Bengal, the workers enrolled with the programme across the country will donate one rupee each to cover the wage dues that have not been paid since the scheme was shut down in the State by Centre over corruption complaints in December 2021.
NREGA Sangarsh Morcha is an umbrella body of workers is organising the campaign. Beginning from next week, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) job card holders associated with the Morcha, will be sending in handwritten appeals on a postcard to the Prime Minister’s Office to act on the issue.
Citing ground surveys that revealed large scale corruption and violation of the guidelines, Union Ministry of Rural Development in December 2021 invoking Section 27 of the MGNREGA that allows “stoppage of release of funds” in case of “improper utilisation” of funds, has not paid the State funds since. The Centre at present owes ₹7,500 crore to the State out of which labour wages alone amount to ₹2,744 crore. For two years in a row, no fresh budget has been approved for the State and the programme has come to a standstill.
NREGA Sangarsh Morcha convenor Anuradha Talwar points out that this inordinate delay in restarting the programme is a clear violation of the Section 27 of the Act, which states that “appropriate remedial measures for its proper implementation within a reasonable period of time” has to be taken.
Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress claims that the BJP has politicised the issue and is deliberately withholding the funds to score a political point. The two have sparred over the issue both inside and outside Parliament. In a rebuttal to Centre, the State government started it own programme on the lines of MGNREGA called Karmashree which gives up to 50 days of employment.
While the Trinamool Congress and the BJP continue to wrestle over the issue, Ms. Talwar said no bureaucrat or public representative has been held accountable for the so-called “corruption” cases. “Crime is committed by a set of people but another set of people are being punished for it. If there was corruption in implementation, then the Centre and State should identify the person or persons responsible and punish them. But by stopping the scheme altogether, the workers are being punished,” Ms. Talwar added. The union has demanded that the Centre and the State can keep wrestling over their dispute, but for the sake of workers, the Centre must restart the programme.
