The Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the central government crossed swords in Parliament on Tuesday over the payment of funds for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) to West Bengal. TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee also said during the Question Hour in the Lok Sabha that the state failed to get funds under the scheme for the financial years 2022-23 and 2023-24. He accused the Centre of discriminating against West Bengal, asking, “Why has no fund been allotted to the West Bengal government?”. We also did not see any consultation that was done prior to this? If you do not like Bengalis, they will not generate money for Bengal?”
In reply to these allegations, Union Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that West Bengal was guilty of violating MGNREGA provisions. Chouhan accused the state government of distorting project structures, fragmenting projects, and enrolling people who did not belong to the projects in question as beneficiaries. He also said that the names of central schemes, including the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, were altered, giving them a state branding, which is prohibited, that is why funds were withheld and other irregularities.
Banerjee dismissed these allegations and called on the Centre to take punitive measures against all forms of electoral malpractice. “Where are you now that the mistakes are frequent? Why have you not captured those involved? In your case, however, you discriminate against the people of West Bengal, which violates Article 14 of the Indian Constitution,” he said, further accusing the Centre of laying allegations to cover up non-provision of funds.
Playfully, Chouhan said that money under MGNREGA could be spent only if it would employed in beneficial schemes. He noted that the scheme specifically has conditions against faking and fraud, especially when it comes to enrollment and implementation for applicants or projects.
The debate highlighted the increasing political rivalry between the TMC-headed state government in West Bengal and the BJP-headed central government. However, the latter accused the former of political vendetta and the former accused the latter of discriminating against and financially embezzling the railway ministry.
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