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The Union Rural Development Minister, Chaudahary Birender Singh, told BusinessLine on Friday that some of the States were failing in timely upload of wage related data onto the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee (MGNREGA) muster roll.
“This is has been causing delay in release of funds directly to the beneficiaries,” the Minister said here on Friday at MCC Chamber of Commerce & Industry.
The Centre has allocated Rs 38,500 crore for MGNREGA in 2016-17. Moreover, higher allocation and release to drought-hit states like Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh for more than stipulated 100 days of work raised the frequency and volume of payments. “Despite these problems, we have released 57 per cent of the MGNREGA budget fund,” he stated.
Last month, the Supreme Court had ordered the Centre to release “adequate and timely” funds for MGNREGA.
He also said to smother differences in MGNREGA wage rates, particularly for unskilled manual workers, the Centre would soon come up with a “clarification”.
Singh said the Centre was aware of the various rates and gaps in wages applied by the States and was awaiting approval on the issue (MGNREGA wage revision) from the Finance Ministry. The Centre was also weeding out fake ‘job cards’ already created.
The four southern States have raised the daily wages this year at a higher rate (between Rs 10 and Rs 20). However, the eastern States kept at a minimal of Rs 2 and Rs 4, Manish Goneka, the chamber president pointed out.
It is alleged that some States have fixed MGNREGA wage rates below the minimum wage rate prevailing in the State. For 2015-16, there was reported pending payment liability of Rs 12,000 crore on MGNREGA account across the country. Of this pending amount, Rs 2,723 crore was due for wages in the 10 drought-affected States.
The electronic fund management system for the flagship scheme for the rural sector, which now links 10 States, would bring all of them into its fold in the next three months, the Minister added.
The Minister said that 95.6 per cent of toilets created in the last couple of years were found be functional by the National Sample Survey Organisation a couple of months ago.
The Centre plans to channel Rs 900 core World Bank’s soft loan fund to States, which work for functionality and sustainability of rural toilets created.
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