VIJAYAWADA: The Centre has allocated only 14 crore mandays to Andhra Pradesh for the 2022-23 fiscal under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) as against 26 crore sought by the government. Officials said that reduced mandays may affect the implementation of the scheme in the later part of the financial year.
In fact, the State government completed more than 24 crore person days in the 2021-22 fiscal and sent proposals to the Centre seeking 26 crore man days. However, the Centre sanctioned only 14 crore mandays, which is 10 crore less than the previous fiscal.
Officials of the Panchayat Raj and Rural Development said that MGNREGS is a demand-driven programme and the Centre will increase the mandays as per demand.
However, they observed that chances of increasing more than 25 per cent additional man days are bleak. The officials observe that the allotment of 14 crore mandays will not be sufficient to provide work to the needy even in the first four months of the fiscal.
"In the absence of agriculture activity in various parts of the State in the summer, there will be a great demand for MGNREGS works and we have completed more than 20 crore mandays by August 15 last year and sent proposals to the Centre seeking allocation of more person days. This time, as the total initial allocation is 14 crore person days, we expect to complete the target by the end of July," an official told The New Indian Express.
Initially, the State government sent proposals seeking 30 crore mandays. Later, it sent revised proposals urging the Centre seeking 26 crore mandays. "On our part, we will provide work to all the needy and will keep on sending the proposals to the Centre," he added.
The official felt that there will be an adverse impact on rural employment in the state if the Centre refuses to sanction more mandays as per demand.
Though several people, who came back to villages and opted MGNREGS works for their livelihood after the outbreak of COVID, are going back to the towns and cities in search of other works, 14 crore man days is certainly not enough to meet the demand, an official observed.
In the 2022-23 Union Budget, funds allocated to MGNREGS has been reduced by 25.2 per cent to Rs 73,000 crore; Rs 98,000 crore was allocated under the revised estimate for the scheme in the previous budget.