Over Rs 81,500 crore released under MGNREGS as West Bengal dues remain disputed

The government on Tuesday said that over Rs 81,500 crore has been released to states and Union Territories under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) in the current financial year, ensuring continuous wage payments through the direct transfer mechanism .

In a written reply to the Lok Sabha , Minister of State for Rural Development Kamlesh Paswan said that pending liabilities across states as of March 11, 2026 , were around Rs 18,862 crore, comprising Rs 8,688.29 crore for wages, Rs 9,692.28 crore for material, and Rs 502.42 crore for administrative components.

As of March 11, a total of Rs 81,502.62 crore has been released under MGNREGS during 2025-26 , which includes Rs 65,875.13 crore for wages and Rs 15,627.48 crore for material and administrative expenses. The Minister added that all pending wage liabilities up to FY 2024-25 have been cleared, except in West Bengal.

Regarding West Bengal, the government noted that release of funds under MGNREGS has been stopped since March 9, 2022 , under Section 27 of the Act , due to non-compliance with central directives. The proposal for upward revision of the Labour Budget for FY 2021-22 for the state was not approved by the Empowered Committee, MGNREGS, because of non-compliance.

According to the NREGASoft e-governance platform , pending liabilities for West Bengal (as of March 8, 2022) stand at Rs 3,082.52 crore , including Rs 1,457.22 crore for wages , Rs 1,607.68 crore for materials , and Rs 17.62 crore for administrative costs . The central government is yet to verify the admissibility of these claims.

The Trinamool Congress (TMC) , which governs West Bengal, has claimed that dues for work already done include Rs 3,700 crore for wages and Rs 3,200 crore for non-wage components. The party has projected total dues of Rs 51,700 crore, including wages and non-wage components, for the period when the scheme was not implemented in the state.

The government reaffirmed that wage payments under MGNREGS are being made on a continuous basis and monitored through the NREGASoft platform, highlighting the scheme’s role in providing employment security to rural households across the country.