Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday expressed concern about the budgetary cut for MGNREGA, saying all the State Budgets have a negative balance in their accounts to the tune of Rs 5,000 crore which has led to delays in payments to workers. Sonia’s contention was countered by Union Ministers Giriraj Singh and Anurag Thakur who said her assessment was “far from the truth”.
Raising the issue during the Zero Hour, Sonia said MGNREGA which was joked about did help the poor during Covid-19 and played a positive role. She urged the Centre to make adequate allocations to the welfare scheme and ensure payments within 15 days.
Rural Development Minister Singh and I&B Minister Thakur hit back at Sonia, accusing her of politicising the issue and claimed that her remarks were “far from the truth”.
“The issue raised by the honourable member is far from the truth. The budgetary allocation for MGNREGA in 2013-14 (UPA years) was Rs 33,000 crore, whereas under Prime Minister Narendra Modi it had reached Rs 1.12 lakh crore. No need to show us the mirror,” Singh said.
Thakur also said that during 2013-14, a sizeable amount in the MGNREGA budget was not reaching the beneficiaries, but today beneficiaries receive the amount directly to their account.
He said under Prime Minister Modi, geo-tagging of assets created under MGNREGA was introduced and payments were directly made to workers in their Jan Dhan accounts.
Sonia said Budget cuts are impacting the workers who are not receiving timely payments and compensations. The scheme which was a mainstay of providing employment is hit by monitory constraints, she said.
“There is a regular reduction in the budgetary allocation for MGNREGA. This year the budget for MGNREGA is 35 per cent less than that of 2020. This comes at a time when unemployment is rising continuously,” she said.
Noting that the Supreme Court had likened the delay in MGNREGA payments with forced labour, she said the States were told that their annual labour budget will not be approved unless they meet conditions related to social audit and appointment of Lokpal.
“Social audit should be made effective but workers can’t be punished by stopping the money for this,” she said.
“I request the Central Government to allocate adequate funds for MGNREGA, ensure payment of workers within 15 days of work, and pay compensation in case of delay in payment of wages,” Sonia said.
The House witnessed uproar as the Congress members protested the remarks by the Ministers and sought to counter the Government’s viewpoint on MGNREGA.
This is the third time during the ongoing session that the Congress president has raised issues in the Lok Sabha during zero hour, the other two being starting mid-day meals for children post-Covid-19 and the alleged bias shown by the social media towards the ruling party.