Activists flag shortage of MGNREGA funds

New Delhi, October 30

A group of activists has flagged an “acute shortage” of funds under the rural employment guarantee programme MGNREGA despite a pandemic-induced surge in demand for work, and said almost 90 per cent of the allocated budget had been used with five months remaining of the financial year.

The Rural Development Ministry on Saturday said the government was committed to release funds for wage and material payments for proper implementation of the plan and added that whenever additional fund was required, the Ministry of Finance was requested to provide it.

Underlining that the Centre’s flagship programme was a lifeline for millions of rural poor, especially in times of the pandemic, the People’s Action for Employment Guarantee (PAEG) in a statement said the total budget for it

in 2021-22 was 34 per cent

less than that of the previous year. The PAEG is a group of activists who were earlier members of the Central Employment Guarantee Council, a statutory body under MGNREGA.

In the Union Budget this year, the government allocated Rs 73,000 crore to the scheme for 2021-22. It was 34 per cent less than the 2020-21 revised estimate of Rs 1.11 lakh crore. — PTI