Andhra Pradesh overspent funds for MGNREGA

Ongole: Though the Union government reduced the funds for the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in the State, Andhra Pradesh has already overspent 17.7 per cent of the budget and requires more than 150 per cent of it to provide 100 days of work to all registered job cardholders.

In Andhra Pradesh, about 97.8 lakh job cards are issued under the MGNREGA. About 74.4 lakh workers from 45.4 lakh households took part in jobs in all districts of the State from April 1 to November 15, 2021. Also, the State has managed to generate 21.7 crore person days, from which the households receive an average of 47.7 person-days.

Meanwhile, 3.5 lakh households have already completed the guaranteed 100 days of work under the scheme.

LibTech India, which is an organisation run by a team of engineers, social workers, and social scientists working towards improving public service delivery in India, analysed the MGNREGA budget with the expenditure for the current financial year, 2021-22. According to Chakradhar Buddha, Gajjalagari Naveen Kumar, the analysts of LibTech India, the revised allocation budget for MGNREGA for Andhra Pradesh state in 2020-21 is Rs 10365.5 crore. But, for 2021-22, the allocation of budget is just Rs 6271.7 crore, a 39.5 per cent decrease when compared with last year.

However, the State has already spent Rs 7379.9 crore by November 15, 2021, a 1108.1 crore excess of the allocation.

While the State is already overspent the budget, there is still four and a half month to continue the MGNREGA programme. The LibTech India analysts found that, if the person-days generated from November 2020 to March 2021 is considered, about 4.60 crore person-days with Rs 387.41 average cost per day should be provided to the workers in the remaining months of 2021-22.

This requires an additional expenditure of Rs 1782.09 crore. If 100 workdays per household, as assured in the MGNREGA programme, is to be provided at the same Rs 387.21 average cost per day, then a whopping Rs 9203.26 crores budget is required.

They said that the workers may not receive more employment for the year at the present trend, and they have to wait for the next year to receive their wage dues of Rs 416 crore pending for the already completed works. They said that if only the Union government allocates additional funds for the implementation of the MGNREGA and release them immediately, the situation can be averted.