Government released Rs 10,000 cr less under MNREGA to states: Congress

NEW DELHI: Congress today accused the government of releasing Rs 10,000 crore less to states under MNREGA during the current financial year and said it had hard the jobless rural poor.

Party spokespersona Shobha Oza accused the government of snatching the right to work of the rural poor by the "tardy" implementation of the most ambitious rural job scheme started by the Congress-led UPA when in power.

Oza said only Rs 13,618 crore were given to the states for implementing the scheme in 2014-15 as against Rs 24,006 the previous year.

She referred to reports which said that the Union Rural Development Ministry seems undecided on whether to blame former Minister Nitin Gadkari or the media for some of the problems with the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).

MGNREGA introduced in 2006, promises 100 days of employment every year to each rural household, and mandates wage payments within 15 days.

In its note, the ministry has said the percentage of delayed payments has gone up drastically from 42.4 per cent in 2012-13 to 70.84 per cent in 2014-15.