MGNREGA funds released: Centre disburses over ₹68,000 crore for rural employment

New Delhi: The Centre has released ₹68,393.67 crore so far in the current financial year to states and Union Territories under the flagship rural employment scheme Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), Minister of State for Rural Development Kamlesh Paswan informed the Rajya Sabha on Friday.

In a written reply, the minister said ₹57,853.62 crore has been released towards wage payments as of November 26, while ₹10,540.05 crore has been disbursed for material and administrative components under the rural employment programme. The MGNREGA budget for 2025–26 stands at ₹86,000 crore.

Paswan also stated that pending liabilities under MGNREGA, including wage, material and administrative costs, total ₹10,127.58 crore as of 26 November. Of this, ₹1,687.27 crore pertains to wages, ₹8,008.48 crore to material procurement, and ₹431.83 crore to administrative expenditure.

Among the states, Andhra Pradesh has a pending wage liability of ₹381.02 crore, material liability of ₹530.45 crore, and ₹27.51 crore under the admin component. Wage arrears include ₹248.42 crore for Kerala, ₹91 crore for Mizoram, ₹64.14 crore for Madhya Pradesh, and ₹46.98 crore for Gujarat.

Under the material component, the Centre owes ₹1,007.58 crore to Uttar Pradesh, ₹880 crore to Rajasthan, ₹655.03 crore to Madhya Pradesh, and ₹668.80 crore to Maharashtra, the written reply showed.

The reply did not list any pending liabilities for West Bengal for the current financial year. Fund release to the state under MGNREGS has been halted since March 9, 2022, under Section 27 of the MGNREGA Act, following alleged non-compliance with central government directives.

Paswan reiterated that MGNREGS is a demand-driven wage employment scheme, and fund disbursement is a continuous process. As per the ministry, wage payments are directly transferred to beneficiary accounts via Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) and daily payment sanctions are issued through the Public Finance Management System (PFMS) after receipt of fund transfer orders from states.

At the start of each financial year, admissible pending liabilities of the previous year are reimbursed, the minister clarified. “All pending wage liabilities up to FY 2024–25, except those of West Bengal, have already been cleared,” he added.

Paswan further said that for material and administrative expenses, states and UTs must submit fund release proposals to the Centre. Funds are disbursed in two tranches annually, based on the agreed labour budget, demand for work, opening balance, fund utilisation pace, pending liabilities and overall performance.

PTI inputs