Rs 4,034 cr MGNREGS funds due from Centre, says Periasamy

CHENNAI: A day after the union government informed the Parliament that Tamil Nadu received more funds than Uttar Pradesh for MGNREGS, State Rural Development Minister I Periasamy told the State Assembly that as much as Rs 4,034 crore MGNREGS funds were due to the state from the Centre till date.

Intervening during the debate on the demand for grants for his department in the House, Periasamy said that the union government owed Rs 4,034 crore to Tamil Nadu under the MGNREGS as of till date.

Pointing out that there were only 23,000 clusters for issue of MGNREGS works in the previous AIADMK regime and it was increased to 27,000 clusters in the incumbent government, the minister said that as many as 139 crore human work days were generated and wages to the tune of Rs 33,000 crore was distributed in the four-year DMK regime and the highest was achieved in 2023-24 with the state recording 40 crore work days and distributing Rs 10, 560 crore in wages that year.

A confident Periasamy said that the regime at the Centre would change, and they would fulfil their promise of increasing the annual work days to 150 days under MGNREGS.

He also added that the previous AIADMK regime had only engaged in the business of pasting stickers by renaming the Anaithu Grama Anna Marumalarchi Thittam (AGAMT) as Thaai Thittam.

"They also forget their Thaai (mother in Tamil)," Periasamy alleged, indicating the shelving of the scheme.

Seeking to rebut the charges of the minister, AIADMK whip SP Velumani interjected and said that the previous tenure of DMK had only included villages under AGAMT, but they brought 79,934 remote villages under Thaai Thittam.

Clarifying that they did not shelve the scheme and they had spent Rs 700 for it in the 2016-21 tenure with Rs 300 crore spent on road works, Velumani said that the 2006-11 DMK only generated 71.07 crore human work days, but they awarded works for 141.62 crore human work days and disbursed Rs 21,922 crore as wages during the period to the MGNREGS workers in the state.

Minister Periyasamy drew curtains on the debate by adding that they spent Rs 4,200 crore in four years under AGAMT, and they have allocated Rs 1,284 crore for the scheme this year.