The State government is seriously planning to advance ₹630 crore from its coffers to clear the wage arrears due to unskilled workers engaged under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS).
The proposal has been mooted to overcome the Centre’s delay in sanctioning funds and the plight of families that have been looking forward for support from the State government.
Since the State had migrated to the National Electronic Fund Management System on January 1, 2016, the Centre credits the wages directly into the accounts of the beneficiaries. Though the direct benefit transfer system is already in place, the government is expecting the Centre to refund the sum that it expends for paying the wages. This is reported to be a unique move wherein a State is expending funds to manage a Centrally Sponsored Scheme. Official sources told The Hindu here that the Centre has been depriving the State of its due on flimsy grounds.
Reasons for delay
One of the reasons cited by the Union Ministry for Rural Development in a communication to the State on May 23 is a minor discrepancy in the opening and closing balance furnished statement of expenditure for 2015-16. The State Mission director of the scheme had furnished the details to the query raised by the Ministry, but to no avail.
The State government is understood to have complied with the stipulations laid by the Centre for implementing the scheme. Still the funds have not been released. Even more annoying is the decline in the funds provided to the State in this regard. Against a requirement of ₹2,145.71 crore in 2016-17, the Centre had released only ₹1,386.70 crore. In April it released only ₹122.83 crore to meet the wage component and also for liquidating the wage arrears for the previous year.
The government has already decided to increase the material component of the scheme from the current 6% to 30% and also create more durable assets and also incepted an independent social auditing system too. Still, the State’s demand to include more sectors, including fisheries, within the ambit of the scheme remains unattended. The Centre is expected to respond positively to the current move to advance wages, sources said.
