With the Union Government facing dearth of funds for implementing the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), its impact is being felt in Odisha.
While Odisha is one of the best performing States so far the MGNRGEA implementation is concerned, funds flow on this account has slowed down and it is bound to have an adverse effect on implementation of the flagship programme.
Odisha had planned for generation of 9 crore person days with a cost of Rs 2, 800 crore during 2017-18.
Accordingly the Union Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) had approved the annual programme, officials said.
The Union Government claimed that this year’s MGNREGA budget is the highest ever; almost 88 per cent of the funds available for the scheme have already been exhausted, just halfway through the financial year.
Rs 48,000 crore had been allocated in the Annual Budget for 2017-18, but there is hardly Rs 6,000 crore left for implementation of the scheme over the next six months, said sources. Another Rs 17,000 crore has been asked to be made available for the MGNREGA by the State. However, it will be available in January after Supplementary Budget is passed, officials said.
So there is acute shortage of funds felt with the MoRD and the shortage of funds comes even as the demand for work under the scheme is expected to peak from next month, after the harvest of Kharif crops.The demand-driven social security scheme guarantees 100 days of wage employment in a year to any rural household whose members volunteer to do unskilled manual work.
The monsoon months leading up to October are a relatively slack period for the MGNREGA as agriculture ensures stable incomes, unless there is rural distress arising out of drought or other factors.
In fact, in Odisha there is drought like situation in at least 92 blocks, said sources. And the November-March period is when work-demand under the MGNREGA starts to peak.
At least Rs 280 crore shortfall is there in Odisha and the State Government has urged the Centre to release the amount immediately, said sources.
With less funds available and labourers not getting their wages in time, people will be forced to flee to neighbouring States to work as migrant workers.
In fact, the people are receiving better wages while working in outside the State instead of working in the MGNREGA.
However, in some cases, they are harassed by the contractors and it is posing a problem for both the people and the State administration.
So, the State Government has urged the Centre to release funds to provide jobs in the peak season under the MGNREGA, said sources.