Govt refutes allegation of lowering allocation under MGNREGA

Rural Development and Panchayati Raj minister Chaudhary Birender Singh today refuted the allegation that the Centre has "lowered" allocation of funds to states under MNREGA scheme.
The minister claimed that the government has disbursed 92 per cent of the funds to the states under the scheme.
"The allegation by opposition parties are wrong that money under MNREGA has gone down. The fact is that the Centre has allocated Rs 37,000 crore under the scheme, of which 92 per cent has been disbursed to state government," he said speaking at the 'Budget Aaj Tak' conclave held here.
He said the Centre has released funds under MNREGA to state governments and now it was upto them to disburse it to the beneficiaries of the scheme.

"The Centre immediately releases funds for payment under the scheme but it is their fault if payments to beneficiaries are delayed," he said.
Senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh and former Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh alleged that states were not being provided adequate funds under the scheme.
Questioning government's "intentions" regarding panchayats and gram sabhas, the former minister alleged that the provisions of MNREGA were being "flouted" in the states, a charge which was denied.
Raghuvansh Prasad also alleged that states were not provided adequate funds by the Central government under the scheme and suggested giving subsidy to agricultural workers employed by farmers.