New Delhi, March 17 The government said on Tuesday that over ₹81,500 crore has been released to states and Union Territories under the MGNREGS employment scheme in the current financial year so far, asserting that wage payments are being made continuously through a direct transfer mechanism.
In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Rural Development Kamlesh Paswan also said that pending liabilities across states as of March 11, 2026, were around ₹18,862 crore – ₹8,688.29 crore for wages, ₹9,692.28 crore for materials, and ₹502.42 crore for administrative components.
As on March 11, 2026, a total of ₹81,502.62 crore has been released under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme during 2025-26, including ₹65,875.13 crore for wage payments and ₹15,627.48 crore for materials and administrative components, he said.
The MoS said that all due and admissible pending wage liabilities up to FY 2024-25 have already been cleared, except in the case of West Bengal.
According to the government, the release of funds under the MGNREGS to the State of West Bengal has been stopped since March 9, 2022, as per the provisions of Section 27 of the Act due to non-compliance with the directives of the central government.
He said the proposal for upward revision of the Labour Budget for FY 2021-22 for the State of West Bengal was not approved by the Empowered Committee, MGNREGS, Department of Rural Development, due to non-compliance with the directives issued by this Department.
According to the government's NREGASoft e-governance platform, the pending liability pertaining to West Bengal (as on 08.03.2022) stands at ₹3082.52 crore, comprising ₹1457.22 crore under the wage component, ₹1607.68 crore under the material component, and ₹17.62 crore under the administrative component.
The minister said the admissibility of this liability is subject to verification by the central government.
The Trinamool Congress, which is in power in West Bengal, has claimed that the dues for work already done include ₹3,700 crore under the wage component, and ₹3,200 crore under the non-wage component.
The TMC has said that projected dues owed by the Centre for the time period when the scheme was not implemented would total to ₹28,400 crore under the wage component, and ₹16,400 crore under the non-wage components.
The total pending liabilities for MGNREGS for West Bengal, according to the TMC, are ₹51,700 crore.