TMC highlights Centre’s double standards in releasing MGNREGA funds
The Statesman | 30 October 2025At a Press meet on Tuesday, Trinamul Congress state minister Pradip Mazumdar said that instead of standing by the poor people of Bengal, the BJP government’s anti-Bengal stance became clear when they approached the Supreme Court at the end of July to ensure that the 1 August deadline was not crossed.
“You will recall that on 11 September, in our Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee meeting, a question was raised as to why the central government did not comply with the Calcutta High Court’s order. We have repeatedly provided information showing that 14 Central teams and 33 national-level monitoring teams visited 19 districts. These central teams were formed under joint secretaries of the central government. The 14 teams visited 19 districts and found that Rs 5.98 crore was not conventionally used, and they directed that this money be recovered,” said Mr Mazumdar, adding, “Later, our own social audit also found that another Rs 2 crore was not properly spent, making the total approximately Rs 8 crore. In the PAC meeting [Centre], an MP, S Patel, representing Gujarat, raised the question that in Gujarat, Rs 71 crore had been misused and even the rural development minister’s son had been jailed for it. Did any central team go there?
The minister pointed out that the central government’s MIS portal showed that in Uttar Pradesh, Rs 48.88 crore (Rs 49 crore approx.) under MGNREGA funds were found misappropriated in a social audit between 2021-22 and 2023-24. In Bihar, Rs 17.76 crore, and in Maharashtra, Rs 15.20 crore were found misused during that period.
In West Bengal, the 14 Central teams found that in 19 districts Rs 6.03 crore, and the national-level monitoring team found an additional Rs 26 lakh, were not conventionally used over six years (from 2016-17 to 2021-22). For this, we did not receive funds for the last three years. We were not allotted man-days, and thus, the poor people were deprived. Otherwise, the poor of this State would have received Rs 50.44 crore more, from which they were deprived solely because of the Central Government’s double standards. In UP, where over Rs 40 crore was misappropriated, Section 27 was not imposed. The same was true in Maharashtra. But in Bengal, only for Rs 6.03 crore, the people here were deprived, the minister pointed out.
“We hope that the Supreme Court’s order will now be respected and implemented in accordance with the law. We are not seeking anyone’s mercy. But if, even after this, justice is not served, then the people will certainly give their answer in 2026,” said Mr Mazumdar.
Another state minister Birbaha Hansda said at the meet that in the 2026 Assembly election, the people of Bengal, the tribal and poor communities, will give their answer against the BJP’s deprivation. The officials sitting in Delhi’s air-conditioned rooms will never understand the pain of the poor, but our government, our Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, does, that’s why she brings government services to people’s doorsteps through initiatives like ‘Duare Sarkar’.
