Gogoi urges Centre not to cut budgetary provisions of MGNREGA

Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi today urged the Centre not to cut budgetary provisions for the state under MGNREGA.
Gogoi met Union Rural Development Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh and requested him not to cut the labour budget as it would affect implementation of the flagship programme in the state, an official release said.
"As the execution of works is picking up and substantial progress has been made in the field, a cut in the labour budget amounting to Rs 433.33 crore will drastically affect the implementation of MGNREGA," Gogoi said.
Reduction in the labour budget has sent a negative message among the stakeholders and would adversely affect the rural areas, he added.

The Chief Minister, while giving a detailed account of the activities under MGNREGA, said about seven lakh households have already been provided jobs generating 119.68 lakh mandays so far in Assam.
He pointed out that the approved state labour budget under MGNREGA was Rs 1,101.02 crore, which has been reduced to Rs 520.12 crore for the current financial year.
"Moreover, fund has been released by Government of India in small tranches and that too, staggered over several instalments. Rs 300.01 crore has been received in four instalments till date," the statement claimed.
Gogoi requested Singh to restore the originally approved labour budget and release the balance amount in one instalment to the state at the earliest.