Union Rural Development Minister Giriraj Singh on Tuesday slammed the Congress for its criticism of making Aadhaar mandatory for payments under MGNREGA, and said "we will penalise states not workers" if they are not yet linked with the Aadhaar-Based Payment System (ABPS).

A day after the ABPS was made mandatory for the rural employment guarantee scheme, Singh said several deadlines were given for linking. He also dismissed former rural development minister Jairam Ramesh's allegations that the union government is "weaponizing technology", especially the Aadhaar against the poor.

The ABPS has been made mandatory to ensure transparency, the minister said.

According to data provided by the Rural Development Ministry, as on January 2 there are around 14.32 crore active workers under the MGNREGS of whom 14.08 crore (98.31 per cent) have been Aadhaar-seeded.

Also, 12.54 crore workers (87.54 per cent of the total) have completed other steps and are currently eligible for Aadhaar-Based Payment System.

 Asked about the way ahead for those workers under MGNREGA who have still not been linked to ABPS, Singh said, "We will talk to states. If they raise concerns we will see what can be the way forward."

 "We have extended the deadline multiple times over the last one year, now we will talk to states, what is the issue, how will they resolve it... We will penalise states, not the workers," the minister said.

 The minister said the "road is not closed" for workers yet unlinked. "No one can be stopped from getting work, but we need to bring transparency."