Centre has blocked payment of over Rs 7,500 crore to Bengal for ‘non-compliance of directives of the Central government’.
KOLKATA
Invoking Section 27 of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), the Centre has blocked payment of more than Rs 7,500 crore of funds to West Bengal for “non-compliance of directives of the Central Government”. Of this amount, the wage liability is Rs 2,744 crore, leading to a protracted war of words between the Central and state governments.
The fight for Central funds for West Bengal has been going on for months and Union Minister Giriraj Singh who holds the Rural Development portfolio has said that he is considering ordering a CBI probe into the alleged defalcation of funds. He claims that the Centre was forced to act after the West Bengal Government refused to comply to the guidelines set for Central schemes like MGNREGA and Prime Minister Awas Yojana. Singh has rejected TMC’s contention that the Centre is acting out of spite and has instead blamed the State Government for not following the guidelines which all other states are adhering to.
“The funds for West Bengal have been withheld because they do not comply to the MGNREGA guidelines, they have no independent social auditor to ensure transparency and accountability. For three-years, the Centre has reminded them repeatedly to follow the rules but there was no response from them. Eventually we were forced to act,” he said. Senior officials at the Union Ministry of Rural Development said that Section 27 of the MGNREGA was invoked only after three years and several warnings were given by the Centre, which the State ignored without giving any cogent explanation or taking any remedial measures.
On 27 February 2023 vide his DO No. L-11028/02/2021-RH, Shailesh Kumar Singh, IAS, Secretary, Department of Rural Development, Ministry of Rural Development, had written to the Chief Secretary, Government of West Bengal, that “consequent to the fact-finding teams’ report to ensure the perpetrators of the irregularities and their collaborators are dealt with sternly, following action should be taken against them:
a. FIR be filed against persons responsible for fraudulent acts.
b. Action to be taken against the erring Block Development Officers (BDOs) and other supervisors.
c. Show cause be served against the district officials and other concerned officials in cases where there is delay in action against the erring officials.
d. State government to publicize widely the action taken in the matter. “
The state government has not informed if any action was taken.
Meanwhile, the BJP, which is in the Opposition in West Bengal, has been repeatedly writing to the Union Rural Development Ministry pointing out the major irregularities and corruption that have dogged the flagship poverty alleviation and rural employment generation scheme of the Central Government, the MGNREGA or Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act.
“MGNREGA has become a favourite milch cow for corrupt officials and politicians in West Bengal. While this has led to suspension of central funds under the MGNREGA, a vilification campaign has been started against the Central government by mischievous and corrupt interested stakeholders of the West Bengal Government, led by the TMC supremo and her second-in-command,” Suvendu Adhikari, the BJP’s Leader of the Opposition told The Sunday Guardian.