MGNREGA unpaid dues may be around Rs 21,000 cr by FY22-end, says PAEG

So far, less than 5 per cent of households employed have completed 100 days of work in the current fiscal year

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2 min read Last Updated : Jan 26 2022 | 1:33 AM IST

Despite allocating Rs 22,039 crore more for MGNREGA, around Rs 21,000 crore could remain pending by the end of this fiscal year (FY22) because of higher expenditure, Peoples' Action for Employment Guarantee (PAEG) said on Tuesday.

The Peoples' Action for Employment Guarantee or PAEG is a group of activists, academics and members of peoples' organisations that came together to advocate for the NREGA in 2004.

“On average, over the past 5 years, 20 per cent of the budget has gone into clearing the arrears of previous years. The unpaid dues this year are already at Rs 12,494 crore,” PAEG said. “Assuming the expenditure trend so far in this FY continues, we estimate that over Rs 21,000 crores would be pending at the end of FY 2021-22.”

Further, at least Rs 2.64 trillion will be required in FY23 to provide a minimum legally guaranteed 100 days of work, it said.

“This is a conservative estimate that considers only households that were employed this year,” PAEG said. The estimated budget requirement was arrived at by taking Rs 269 as the wage rate. The Budget requirement will go down to Rs 2.15 trillion if 80 days of work is provided per household and so on. In FY22, according to PAEG’s estimates, the Centre took longer than the stipulated seven-day period to process 50.2 per cent of the wages, although the exact extent of the delay was not known.

“Currently (as on January 24), 13 per cent of transactions are pending, amounting to more than Rs 7,047 crore,” PAEG said.

Not paying wages on time is akin to forced labour and violates several fundamental rights of workers, it said, adding that only 1.69 per cent of payable delayed wage compensation has been paid this year.

Further, PAEG said that in FY22, despite persistent need for work, the government allocated only Rs 73,000 crore, 26 per cent of which corresponded to older dues.

Therefore, NREGA coffers had become empty by the first half of FY22. So far, less than 5 per cent of households employed have completed 100 days of work in the current fiscal year.