The Mamata Banerjee dispensation's endeavour to create alternative employment for rural people who are eligible for jobs under the MGNREGA has failed to meet the target, a recent report compiled by the Bengal government has revealed.
According to the report, only the panchayat and the public health engineering (PHE) departments met the expectations of the government in terms of job creation. All other departments were lagging behind the target, said the report.
According to the report, the panchayat department surpassed its target and engaged 10.78 lakh MGNREGA job card holders. The panchayat department's target was to employ 10.05 lakh job card holders. The PHE department engaged 8.46 lakh job card holders against the target of 8.46 lakh.
“But all other departments have failed to meet the targets. For example, the public works department (PWD) could engage only 4.15 lakh job card holders while it was expected to employ 16.53 lakh rural people with cards. The irrigation department also engaged only 1.37 lakh job card holders against the target of 7.86 lakh,” said a senior state government official.
The targets were to be met by August 21 of the current fiscal.
As the majority of the departments failed to meet the targets, only 28.30 lakh job card holders could be given employment in the current fiscal under various schemes of the state government. Had the departments implemented projects according to the plan, about 50 lakh job card holders could have been given employment so far, said a bureaucrat.
Last year, the state had engaged 42.37 lakh job card holders in its own schemes after the Centre had stopped the release of funds under the MGNREGA in January 2022, alleging misappropriation of funds.
Senior state government officials have said this year's achievement is not encouraging as Bengal has a total of 2.58 crore job card holders and 1.38 crore of them are active these days. “So, providing jobs to only 28.30 lakh job card holders is not enough,” said an official.
The progress has become a bother for Bengal's ruling party as the lack of employment opportunities in rural areas is likely to become a key issue in the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
“About 20 per cent of grievances that are being lodged through Sorasori Mukhyomantri programme are still related to the demand for jobs. So, the government wanted to create employment opportunities for job card holders through its own schemes in the absence of central funds," said a senior official.
Some bureaucrats said a close look at the performance of the departments suggested many of them could not initiate enough schemes to engage job card holders because of a lack of funds.
“The PHE is carrying out projects under the Centre’s Jal Jeevan Mission, funds for which were never stopped. Similarly, the panchayat department is carrying out projects with the funds available under the 15th Finance Commission. But other departments don’t have funds flowing from Delhi and that’s why they could not take up many projects,” said a source.
The only exception, sources said, is the PWD which has enough funds but could not carry out projects because of "unexplained reasons".
Senior bureaucrats said if the state wanted to engage a maximum number of job card holders in the next few months, the government would have to spend a handsome amount through the departments so that new projects could be undertaken and job card holders could be engaged.
“But the problem is that the state’s coffers don’t allow the state to spend handsomely right at this moment...," said a bureaucrat.