SHILLONG: Delay in release of funds by the Ministry of Rural Development has hit the implementation of the path-breaking Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) in Meghalaya.
A State official on Sunday informed that the Ministry has been delaying release of funds not only for Meghalaya but for almost all states, thereby affecting implementation of the scheme.
Explaining the reasons behind the delay in release of wages to the beneficiaries in the State since October last year, the official informed that the Ministry had not released the funds since October leading to the delay.
He, further, informed that the State Rural Development Agency, under the State Community and Rural Development Department, released certain amount of funds for payment of wages only in January after receiving Rs.66 crore from the Ministry as against the proposed Rs.130 crore.
“We had submitted a fresh proposal of funds to the tune of Rs.150 crore to the Ministry in February,” the official said, while adding that the fund which has been sought would be utilized for payment of pending wages, purchase of materials for ongoing works taken up under the scheme, re-depositing an amount of Rs.31 crore which was loaned from the State Corpus Fund for payment of wages and also the liabilities of the funds which spilled over from the previous financial year.
It is noteworthy that the funds liabilities in the State was Rs.43 crore in 2011-2012, Rs.80 crore in 2012-2013 and Rs.60 crore in the current fiscal.
The official also informed that despite these constraints, Meghalaya was the second best performing States in the country after Himachal among the smaller states in the country in terms of MGNREGS implementation.