Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme is not a charity for the government to decide whether they want to extend or not, it is a right, TMC’s Rajya Sabha leader Derek O’ Brien said on Thursday at a press conference in Delhi.
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He was speaking in the background of the Union Ministry of Rural Development’s decision not to allot labour budget to West Bengal for the upcoming financial year 2023-24, as reported by The Hindu on March 21. On December 2021, the Centre had stopped MGNREGS funds for the State invoking section 27, for violation of guidelines and corruption in the implementation of the scheme. Currently, the Centre owes the State ₹7,500 crore.
“Chairman of Trinamool Congress and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is herself sitting on a dharna on the issue of non-payment of ₹7,500 crore of MGNREGA funds. Not only Bengal, many non-BJP States have been denied this fund,” Mr. O’Brien said.
Of all the States, West Bengal has the highest number of households enrolled under the scheme, he said. “We are in March 2023 and the last wage bill paid to State was in 2021. 3.7 crore workers haven’t been paid. This is a huge deprivation. Our charge is that BJP is doing this deliberately. MGNREGA is a guarantee, a right and not a charity,” he added.