‘MGNREGS funds to Bengal halted over irregularities’
The central government has stopped releasing funds under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) to West Bengal after it found large-scale irregularities in executing the flagship programme by the state, two officials aware of the development said on Monday.
After audits detected irregularities in implementing the programme, the Centre stopped releasing funds to West Bengal from March 2022. No money has been released for the state under MGNREGS as the state government has not taken corrective measures, officials said, requesting anonymity.
Some other states have also been alerted to certain irregularin implementing the scheme and they have assured the Centre that they will take corrective measures, a senior official said.
“If they don’t follow the stated guidelines, they will also face action as per provisions of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005,” the official added.
The officials were responding to Saturday’s comments by the West Bengal chief minister, who said she was stopped from speaking at the Niti Ayog meeting when she was trying to raise several issues including suspension of central funds for welfare schemes such as MGNREGS.
“₹6,913 crore is due under MGNREGA since FY 2021-22. The chief minister ordered in February that the state should pay this amount to the beneficiaries in phases from its own funds. We have started the process,” a senior West Bengal bureaucrat said on condition of anonymity on Monday.
On February 2, the Enforcement Directorate carried out its first raids in West Bengal as part of its probe into alleged irregularities in implementation of MGNREGS.
“The raids were politically motivated. The ED was activated by BJP after Banerjee announced that she will pay MGNREGA beneficiaries from state funds,” said industry minister Shashi Panja on July 24.
On February 3, Mamata Banerjee wrote a letter to the Prime Minister refuting a CAG report on delay in submission of utilisation certificates for various central schemes. Calling it a “false propaganda,” she said her government submitted all utilisation certificates to the respective Union ministries on time.
The ministries of rural development and finance did not respond to email queries on the matter. The rural development ministry is the administrative ministry for this scheme. The finance ministry releases funds to states after approval from the rural development ministry.
The release of funds to West Bengal was stopped under Secities tion 27 of the Act over non-compliance of directives by the central government, a second official said. Section 27 empowers the Centre to enquire about complaints of irregularities and to send a statement of charges to the state government for a response within a specified period. The Centre has the power to involve investigative agencies such as the CBI if criminal intent is prima facie established. In case the state does not cooperate, the release of MGNREGS funds can be stopped.
“The funding will be restored once the central government is satisfied that the state has taken appropriate remedial measures,” the second official said. As per the Mahatma Gandhi NREGA, 100% wage payment within 15 days of the work done is the central government’s liability.