Govt rejects allegations of bias in MGNREGA fund release amid Oppn protest

The government on Tuesday said it has never discriminated against any state in the release of MGNREGA funds amid a protest by opposition MPs in the Lok Sabha against the alleged delay in payment to some states for the rural employment scheme.

As the issue was raised during the Question Hour, the Lok Sabha witnessed protests with DMK and Trinamool Congress MPs entering the well of the House. Speaker Om Birla urged them to return to their seats, but they did not budge. Following this, the House was adjourned till 12 pm.

Birla urged the Opposition not to "politicise" the questions raised during the Question Hour.

Congress MP from Kerala Adoor Prakash highlighted a decline in the MGNREGA workforce in his state and attributed it to delayed payments and low wages.

"Workers in Kerala have not received their wages for the past three months, and Rs 811 crore is due under the scheme. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Rural Development has recommended linking MGNREGA wages to inflation and increasing the workdays to 150. Will the government release the pending amount without delay?" Prakash posed.

Minister of State for Rural Development Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani refuted the claims of withholding funds, stating that Kerala has already received nearly Rs 3,000 crore this year.

"Last year, Kerala got Rs 3,500 crore. The release of payments is a continuous process, and whatever is pending will be cleared within the next few weeks," he assured the House.

DMK MP Kanimozhi also raised concerns over the matter, saying Tamil Nadu had been waiting for Rs 4,034 crore in MGNREGA payments for the past five months.

"The scheme is demand-driven, and if payments are delayed by over 15 days, they must be paid with interest to workers. The Tamil Nadu chief minister has written to the prime minister, and we have met the minister who assured us that dues would be cleared. But we are still waiting," she said.

Responding to the concerns, Pemmasani pointed out that the MGNREGA Act, enacted by the UPA government, stipulates that delays beyond 15 days incur a penalty of 0.05 per cent interest.

"According to the law, if there is a delay, the state government initially pays the amount and the central government reimburses it. Tamil Nadu has already received Rs 7,300 crore. With a population of seven crore, Tamil Nadu receives over Rs 10,000 crore, comparable to Uttar Pradesh, which has a population of 20 crore. There is no question of bias," the minister said.

Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan also defended the government, saying, "Be it Tamil Nadu or West Bengal, the Modi government has never discriminated against any state. The pending MGNREGA dues, including material costs, will be released soon.

"Under UPA, from 2006-07 to 2013-14, only Rs 111 crore was allocated for person-days in West Bengal, while under the NDA, we have created 239 crore person-days and allocated Rs 54,515 crore," the agriculture minister said.