Wage payments worth ₹3,066 crore under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) are frozen in 19 States in India, rights group NREGA Sangharsh Morcha, a network of various grassroots organisations, said here.

“Since August 31, no wage payments have been made in Haryana; since the first week of September, no wage payments have been made in Karnataka and West Bengal; and since a month no wage payments have been made in Kerala and Jharkhand, among other States,” said a statement by the Morcha.

As on October 20, 2017, there was 100 per cent pendency of fund transfer orders (FTOs) in 19 States, including Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Kerala, said the statement, citing figures from www.nrega.nic.in.

“These are wage payments for which the FTOs have been approved by the first and second signatories, and are pending at the level of the Union Government,” it said, adding that the official MGNREGA Management Information System only captured delays in the processes to be completed within States (i.e. up to the signing of FTOs by the second signatory), and not in those that are to be completed by the Centre or the payment agencies .”

“Thus, the delays in wage payments of lakhs of workers caused due to the failure of the Central government, banks and post offices in discharging their responsibilities is not recorded or reflected anywhere. This makes the “payment on time figure” used by the Ministry meaningless, and a mockery to citizens who have a legal right to work,” said the statement.

Calling for immediate clearance of all FTOs and allocation of additional Central funds, the Morcha said that with the demand for MGNREGA work set to rise after the monsoons, the Centre had already exhausted 87 per cent of funds available, and blamed “growing centralisation and technocracy” for the situation.

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