Mamata Banerjee on Saturday said the Bengal government would pay the due wages of nearly 21 lakh MGNREGA job card holders after the Centre had stopped the release of funds under the 100-day rural employment guarantee scheme.

The 21 lakh job card holders had worked under the scheme but have not received their wages since January 2023 because of the pause on the release of the funds by the Narendra Modi government.

“I staged a 48-hour demonstration demanding the release of funds, including due wages. I have met (the Prime Minister) three times…. Officers attended meetings whenever they were called. Still, they (the Centre) did not clear the dues. I would like to announce that the state government will clear the dues of 21 lakh workers on February 21,” the chief minister announced from the dias of her dharna on Red Road in Calcutta.

Mamata said the dues of the workers would be sent directly to their bank accounts.

Mamata’s announcement that her government would pay the 21 lakh MGNREGA job card holders the dues which the Centre is supposed to clear shows that the Trinamul Congress will use the Modi dispensation’s alleged deprivation of Bengal as a weapon to attack the BJP ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

“Issues related to the 100-day job scheme, rural roads and rural housing, funds for which are held by the Centre, have immense importance in villages. The BJP will not be able to evade the questions during the election campaign,” said a Trinamul leader.

State BJP president Sukanta Majumdar said: “From where will she (Mamata) get funds? She cannot transfer any funds from the state revenue. So, she will divert money from other funds to pay the workers. This is what she has done for so many years.”

He referred to the CAG report and made it clear that
the state government’s failure to submit utilisation certificates had led to the withholding of funds by the Centre.

“If the state government is stripped of its legitimate demand, then why is she not going to court? Why did the chief secretary hurriedly ask for utilisation certificates from all state departments?” Majumdar asked.

Jagannath Chattopadhyay, a state general secretary of the BJP, has said the scheme is completely governed by the central government.

“How can the state transfer funds under the scheme? Moreover, the beneficiaries know why they did not get funds and transferring some money ahead of the polls would not change their mind,” he said.

Sources in the Bengal government said the state would require about Rs 2,700 crore to clear the dues of the workers.

“The panchayat department had prepared a list of the job card holders whose wages were not cleared. According to the list, about 21 lakh workers did not get payments of about Rs 2,700 crore after working under the project between December 2021 and March 2022,” said a source.

Chattopadhyay, the BJP leader, alleged that the state was set to get a handsome amount as tax share from the Centre between February-end and March and it appeared the amount would be used to pay the wages of the workers.

“This will be another gross irregularity as the funds allotted for development cannot be used to gain political advantage,” said Chattopadhyay.

The chief minister also hinted that her government could initiate steps to allot homes to the rural poor who were supposed to get dwelling units under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY).

“They (the Centre) did not give funds to 11 lakh beneficiaries to construct homes. I will not say anything about the housing scheme today. I will talk about this later. We will help people who need this,” she said.

Later, Mamata explained how her government could step in to construct houses for the poor villagers.

“We have given pattas and a sum of Rs 1.20 lakh to tea garden workers. The minority department will look into the housing for the minorities and for the remaining houses, steps will be taken,” said the chief minister.

Mamata hinted that she was depending heavily on those initiatives to corner the BJP ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

“These 21 lakh people whose wages will be cleared by the state government should go to their areas and tell people how the state government helped them,” said the chief minister.