Cloud over MGNREGS restart in Bengal as Centre yet to clear labour budget
According to sources, the West Bengal government had written to the Union Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) seeking approval to its labour budget, but the same has not been done so far.
The labour budget is approved by the Empowered Committee headed by the Union Rural Development Secretary. States generate their demands for funds using NREGASoft, the management information system of the MGNREGS, only after this committee clears their labour budget proposals.
Rural Development Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said on Monday that the Central government is committed to the development of West Bengal and the welfare of its people. He alleged that the Mamata Banerjee government has 'failed miserably' in effectively implementing MGNREGS, but did not say anything about the resumption of the scheme in the state.
'From the year 2019 to 2022, Central teams visited 19 districts of West Bengal. During these visits, the Central teams found many anomalies and irregularities in the works of MNREGA in the state such as absence of work at the site, dividing the work into portions against the rules, misappropriation of funds… flouting rules and norms of MNREGA,' Chouhan said in a post on X.
'Due to these unethical actions of the state government, misuse of public money and lack of improvement in the system, the Ministry of Rural Development has stopped the release of funds of the state government under Section 27 of the MNREGA Act,' he said.
Under the MNREGS, the MoRD releases funds to states 'based on agreed labour budget'. Generally, the states' labour budget proposals are approved by the MoRD by the end of January or before the beginning of the financial year (April-March). In West Bengal's case, no labour budget has been approved after FY 2021-22 after the Centre suspended the implementation of the scheme in the state.
By invoking Section 27 of MGNREGA, 2005, the Centre had stopped release of funds to West Bengal with effect from March 9, 2022.
In an order on June 18, 2025, the Calcutta High Court directed that the 'scheme be implemented prospectively with effect from August 1, 2025'.
However, West Bengal officials say they have not received any intimation from the Centre about resumption of the scheme in the state. They have also been urging the ministry to approve of the labour budget but the same has not happened yet, said an official.
The ministry officials have maintained silence so far on the issue of Bengal. Asked whether the MoRD challenged the June 18 order of the Calcutta HC, the officials did not respond. They also did not respond to queries on non-approval of Bengal's labour budget.
According to sources, the Centre has not yet challenged the court order yet. On July 22, Union Minister Chouhan told the Lok Sabha that the High Court order is 'being studied in the ministry to decide further course of action'.
In January this year, West Bengal's Rural Development Minister Pradip K Mazumdar wrote a letter to Chouhan, seeking an appointment for a meeting, which has not happened so far. Earlier, multiple meetings between the Centre and West Bengal government officials have taken place but the issue has not been resolved till date.
Before the Centre suspended the MGNREGS in March 2022, West Bengal figured among the top performers with 51 lakh to 80 lakh families in the state availing of the scheme annually between 2014-15 and 2021-22. The data available on the NREGS portal shows that the number of households working through the rural job guarantee scheme stood at 51 lakh in 2014-15, 61 lakh in 2015-16, 58 lakh in 2016-17, 52 lakh in 2017-18, 43.89 lakh in 2018-19, 54.57 lakh in 2019-20, 79.64 lakh in 2020-21 and 75.97 lakh in 2021-22.
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