Centre admitted inside Parliament that Bengal's been given 'zero' for MNREGA funds: O'Brien

NEW DELHI: Citing a reply in the Rajya Sabha by the government to a question on the MGNREGS, TMC MP Derek O'Brien on Sunday claimed the BJP-led Centre in its response has "finally" accepted that West Bengal has been given "zero" funds under the 100-day rural employment guarantee scheme.

The TMC and its Lok Sabha MP Abhishek Banerjee have been demanding a white paper on the scheme to prove what the Centre had paid to West Bengal since the BJP's loss in the 2021 state assembly polls, Rajya Sabha member O'Brien said in a post on X.

"Finally! Modi govt admits inside Parliament that Bengal's been given zero for MNREGA funds," O'Brien said in a post on X, sharing the July 26 reply that gave state and UT-wise data of the last five financial years on the number of households that have completed 100 days of employment under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS).

In West Bengal, the number of households that completed 100 days of wage employment was "zero" in 2023-24, according to the written reply given by Union Minister of State for Rural Development Kamlesh Paswan in the Upper House of Parliament.

In 2022-23, 1,618 households got 100 days work in the state under the scheme, while in 2021-22, it was 4,71,136, it was stated in the reply.

In the first Covid wave year of 2020-21, the figure was 6,78,633, and in 2019-20, it was 3,65,683, it said.

Officials in the Union Rural Development Ministry had earlier said the release of funds to West Bengal under the MGNREGS were stopped on March 9, 2022, due to "non-compliance with directions of the central government".

The action was taken according to the provisions under section 27 of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), 2005, they had said.

Overall in the country, around 44,99,343 households got 100 days employment under MGNREGS in 2023-24.

In another written reply on the total number of person-days of employment generated under the scheme, Paswan said in 2023-24, 1.65 lakh person-days of employment was given in West Bengal under the scheme.

In 2022-23, 3.78 crore person-days of employment was generated, while in 2021-22, around 36.42 crore person-days employment was generated in the state under the scheme.

Overall, in 2023-24, 312.37 crore person-days of employment was generated under the scheme across the country, according to the reply.