West Bengal Government to launch a scheme to provide 100 days work
The Hindu
A 100 days of work under the MGNREGA has remained one of the key schemes implemented through the panchayats in the State.
With the funds to the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) stopped in West Bengal for almost 18 months, the State government is mulling over its own scheme for providing 100 days work to the people of the State. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has brought back her 2021 Assembly poll slogan ‘Khela hobe’ (the game is on) for the reinvention of the scheme. She has said it will take a few months to bring out its modalities.
The development assumes significance as the new Board at the three tier panchayats after the recently concluded panchayat polls will be operational in the State from August 16. A 100 days of work under the MGNREGA has remained one of the key schemes implemented through the panchayats in the State, and the stoppage of funds since December 2021 has brought it to a complete halt in West Bengal.
Funds to the tune of ₹2,786 crore under the MGNREGA are pending with the Centre and no allocation was made to the State for the years 2022 and 2023. Lakhs of workers have been denied wages due to them.
The Centre has stopped providing funds to the State under Section 27 of the MGNREGA Act, which says the Central government may order stoppage of release of funds to the scheme and institute “appropriate remedial measures for its proper implementation within a reasonable period of time”. The Ministry of Rural Development had stopped the funds based on allegations of corruption in the implementation of MGNREGA in West Bengal.
Anuradha Talwar of the Paschim Banga Khet Majoor Samiti (PBKMS) said that it would be important to know how much funding the State government will make available for the newly announced scheme. A petition by the PBKMS, demanding the wages of MGNREGA workers be paid, is pending before the Calcutta High Court.
Ms. Talwar said that work by the State government is carried out through contractors and proper tendering, and if the government wishes to implement 100 days of work, it would have to come out with a process for selecting beneficiaries.
Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLAs on Tuesday tabled a motion in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly on the Centre’s stoppage of funds to the State.
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