The Centre on Friday said it was making all efforts to ensure adequate fund flow to States/Union Territories under the flagship rural job guarantee scheme, MGNREGS.

In a statement, the Ministry of Rural Development said it had released ₹40,480 crore so far in this financial year, which was around ₹4,500 crore more than the release during the corresponding period of the last financial year.

“There is no paucity of funds for MGNREGS at this juncture. However, the Ministry has sought more funds from the Ministry of Finance for meeting additional requirements,” it said.

With regard to fund release, the Ministry said it had been scrutinising proposals with promptness and had been releasing funds.

States’ proposal

“Immediate action has been taken on proposals submitted so far by Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Jammu & Kashmir and proposals have been processed. The Ministry has been constantly engaging with the rest of the States/UTs for submission of proposals without delay,” it said.

The Ministry said that it had also been “making it clear that there were no pre-conditions like Aadhaar number linkage to bank account, uploading of photograph on electronic job card or denial of work to households not possessing toilets, for getting wage employment under the programme.”

The Ministry’s statement comes close on the heels of reports that wage payments worth ₹3,066 crore under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) were held up in 19 States due to pending fund transfers, as pointed out by NREGA Sangharsh Morcha, a network of various grassroots organisations.

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