MGNREGS dues: Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee may shift protest to Kolkata

Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee appears to have delayed plans to stage a protest in the national capital according to some reports, but the logjam over the Centre’s denial of funds to the state for key flagship programmes such as MGNREGS is unlikely to be resolved soon.

According to the reports, Mamata has now decided to stage a protest in Kolkata against the Centre’s withholding of funds and alleged misuse of central agencies against political opponents.

Bengal faces panchayat polls soon.

According to reports, the Union Rural Development Ministry decided to withhold the MGNREGS funds for West Bengal for the 2023-24 financial year, extending the imposition of Section 27 of the MGNREGA that allows stoppage of funds for violation of rules in the implementation of the scheme by the state.

The section was first invoked in December 2021, alleging largescale corruption and violation of guidelines.

In a Parliament reply in July 2022, the Ministry of Rural Development acknowledged that on account of non-compliance of its directives, according to provisions of Section 27 of MGNREGA, the release of funds to West Bengal has been stopped. At that time, pending liabilities for MGNREGS wages were estimated at Rs 2,605 crore.

The state claims that the Centre owes Rs 7,500 crore, of which labour wages alone amount to Rs 2,744 crore.

The MGNREGS website, though, throws up a completely different picture.

It shows that as on March 22, the total payment due to the state is about Rs 700 crore, of which wage is just about Rs 32 crore. Civil society activists and others have strongly refuted the website numbers.

The Paschim Banga Khet Majoor Samity (PBKMS), which has been fighting for MGNREGS workers in the state, has slammed the reports of withholding of wages for FY24. “The central government has used Section 27 of the NREGA Act, alleging immense corruption and anomalies on part of the state government. We fail to understand why the huge bureaucratic machinery of the Centre and state government have not been able to remedy and weed out these practises, even after 15 months. (This section was first invoked in December 2021),” the Samity said. 

It said the autocratic decision amounts to the criminalisation and punishment of all of the 15 million NREGS workers in the state for no fault of theirs.

Workers, most of whom have worked diligently and honestly, haven't been paid since December 2021 for work already done.

Practically no new work has been done in 2022-23, forcing workers to migrate and cut down on essential expenses like food, medical expenses and education. The same fate awaits them in 2023-24.

On March 16, 2023, the Purulia district administration (Purulia is among the districts which has received largest complaints of non-payment of MGNREGS wages) had held a hearing with the representatives of PBKMS from six blocks of Purulia district in compliance of the verdict of the Calcutta High Court dated 9th January 2023.

The Samity said the district administration of Purulia admitted that though the claims submitted by PBKMS members are genuine, they are not in a position to clear the due wages till the Centre releases the funds.

"PBKMS finds it absolutely unreasonable that the central government is unable to conclude an investigation even after a period of one year and three months," the association said.

In a parallel development, on March 20th 2023, the National Human Rights Commission acted on PBKMS’s complaint of unpaid wages (Case No.- 651/25/0/2023), directing the West Bengal Chief Secretary to submit a report within eight weeks, the Samity said. Action on it is awaited.