Around 1,500 people who supplied building materials in north Bengal for various projects taken up under the MGNREGS (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme) held a rally in Siliguri on Thursday, demanding immediate payment of their dues.

Altogether, the suppliers said, they need to receive around ₹1,200 crore in different districts of the region and have not been paid a penny over the past three financial years.

“In the past three fiscal years, we have not received any payment for supplying building materials under the 100-days-work scheme. As of now, the total due is around ₹1,200 crore. Most of us are reeling under acute financial crisis and want the state to take necessary steps so that we can survive,” said Dulal Datta, a representative of the North Bengal MGNREGA Vendors Association.

According to him, around 5,000 suppliers across north Bengal have not received any payment since 2021-2022.

Today, they assembled in Fulbari on the southern outskirts of Siliguri, and started marching towards Uttarkanya, the branch secretariat of the state.

The police, however, stopped them ahead of the secretariat and later, a 10-member delegation of the association was allowed to visit Uttarkanya, where they submitted a memorandum to NB development minister Udayan Guha.

The suppliers mentioned that the Centre provides the money to the state and the state, in turn, pays them.

“The chief minister and her party leaders are vocal against the Centre for stopping sanctioning funds under MGNREGS. But to help the beneficiaries, her government cleared their due wages earlier this year. We would request her to consider our case and stand in our support,” said Atanu Das, another member, adding that such suppliers in other districts of Bengal are in a similar crisis.

In February this year, Mamata announced that her government would pay the pending wages of MGNREGS beneficiaries. The state cleared the due wage of over 21 lakh workers by spending around ₹2,650 crore from its exchequer.

Guha, the north Bengal development minister, said the state is sympathetic to the suppliers but the onus is with the Centre.

“We understand their situation and believe they know that the Centre has stopped paying funds for the 100-days-work scheme to our state. They should organise a movement to exert pressure on the central government. Once the funds reach the state, they will get their dues,” the minister said.