Parliament Question: Pending payments of central funds due to States under MGNREGA

O.I.H. GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1741 TO BE ANSWERED ON 13/02/2026 PENDING PAYMENTS OF CENTRAL FUNDS DUE TO STATES UNDER MGNREGA 1741 Shri Digvijaya Singh: Will the Minister of Rural Development be pleased to state: (a) whether Government is aware that the payment of central funds due to various States under MGNREGA is pending, if so, the details of the outstanding amounts, State-wise; (b) the details of the funds sanctioned, released and still pending against the demands submitted by States during the last three financial years, year-wise and State-wise; (c) the reasons for the delay in the said payment and whether it has adversely affected the implementation of the scheme; and (d) the time-bound action plan formulated by Government for expeditious payment of the outstanding amount? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT (SHRI KAMLESH PASWAN) (a): State/UT-wise details of total pending liabilities under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (Mahatma Gandhi NREGS) during the current the financial year 2025-26 (as on 09.02.2026) are given at Annexure-I. (b): State/UT-wise details of total funds released under Mahatma Gandhi NREGS during the last three financial years are given at Annexure-II. (c) & (d): Mahatma Gandhi NREGS is a demand-driven wage employment scheme. Under the Scheme, the Wage payments are directly credited by the Central Government to the accounts of the beneficiaries through Direct Benefit Transfer protocol. Sanctions for Wage payments are issued daily by the Ministry through the Public Finance Management System (PFMS) based on fund transfer orders received from the States/ UTs after following due procedures. At the beginning of each financial year, admissible pending liabilities of the previous years, if any, are duly reimbursed by the Government of India. Accordingly, all due and admissible pending wage liabilities upto FY 2024-25 have already been cleared (except in case of West Bengal). With regard to Material and Admin components, States/UTs are required to furnish fund release proposals to the Government of India. The Central Government releases funds periodically in two tranches with each tranche consisting of one or more installments, keeping in view the “agreed to” Labour Budget, demand for works, opening balance, pace of utilization of Page 1 of 4funds, pending liabilities, overall performance and subject to submission of relevant documents by the States/UTs. Under the Scheme, in the current financial year 2025-26 (as on 08.02.2026), an amount of Rs. 78004.59 crore has been released to States/UTs, which included Rs. 64789.49 crore for Wage component and an amount of Rs.13215.10 crore for Material and Admin Components. As Sanction for payment of Wages are issued by Ministry on a daily basis through PFMS (Public Finance Management System), after receipt of funds transfer orders from States/UTs after following the due procedures, the fund release status keeps updating on a daily basis. Here, it is also stated that under the scheme, funds release to States/UTs is a continuous process and the Central Government is committed to making funds available to States/UTs for the implementation of the scheme as per the demand for work on the ground. The Ministry undertakes regular assessments of fund requirements based on demand and seeks additional funds from the Ministry of Finance as and when required for meeting the demand for work on the ground. In the FY 2025-26 (as on 09.02.2026), 99.81% of the eligible rural households have been offered employment against their demand. ***** Page 2 of 4Annexure-I Annexure referred to in reply to part (a) of Rajya Sabha Unstarred Question No. 1741 dated 13.02.2026. State/UT-wise details of total pending liabilities under Mahatma Gandhi NREGS during the current the financial year 2025-26 (as on 09.02.2026) (Rs. in crore) S. No. States/UTs Total pending liabilities 1 Andhra Pradesh 1014.60 2 Arunachal Pradesh 88.53 3 Assam 482.51 4 Bihar 664.72 5 Chhattisgarh 245.99 6 Goa 0.54 7 Gujarat 81.22 8 Haryana 17.07 9 Himachal Pradesh 51.09 10 Jammu and Kashmir 299.68 11 Jharkhand 385.02 12 Karnataka 746.65 13 Kerala 419.09 14 Ladakh 8.51 15 Madhya Pradesh 704.64 16 Maharashtra 528.28 17 Manipur 266.63 18 Meghalaya 109.94 19 Mizoram 40.22 20 Nagaland 70.23 21 Odisha 411.64 22 Punjab 147.73 23 Rajasthan 383.24 24 Sikkim 1.58 25 Tamil Nadu 729.88 26 Telangana 54.49 27 Tripura 144.02 28 Uttar Pradesh 1158.71 29 Uttarakhand 50.03 30 West Bengal* 0.00 31 Andaman and Nicobar 0.18 32 Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu 1.14 33 Lakshadweep 0.00 34 Puducherry 0.88 Total 9308.67 *The release of funds to the State of West Bengal under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (Mahatma Gandhi NREGS) was also stopped with effect from 09.03.2022 by invoking the provisions of Section 27 of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005, owing to continued non-compliance with the directives of the Central Government by the State. As per the NREGASoft, the pending liability pertaining to the State of 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 admissibility of this liability is subject to verification by the Central Government. Page 3 of 4Annexure-II Annexure referred to in reply to part (b) of Rajya Sabha Unstarred Question No. 1741 dated 13.02.2026. State/UT-wise details of total funds released under Mahatma Gandhi NREGS during the last three financial years. (Rs. in crore) S. No. States/UTs 2024-25 2023-24 2022-23 1 Andhra Pradesh 7707.21 7353.67 8008.81 2 Arunachal Pradesh 560.7 427.35 578.32 3 Assam 1929.7 2221.38 2055.28 4 Bihar 6715.83 6200.03 6403.07 5 Chhattisgarh 3354.85 2895.12 3396.94 6 Goa 3.7 0.88 5.12 7 Gujarat 1540.54 1802.26 1692.07 8 Haryana 590.19 477.87 373.99 9 Himachal Pradesh 1203.28 1000.96 1162.83 10 Jammu & Kashmir 1151.2 921.6 1050.99 11 Jharkhand 2705.64 2922.27 2712.91 12 Karnataka 5709.9 5431.67 6232.83 13 Kerala 3136.44 3532.57 3832.43 14 Madhya Pradesh 6252.03 5891.65 5711.77 15 Maharashtra 4420.32 3041.48 2552.01 16 Manipur 581.99 0.95 1086.63 17 Meghalaya 1155.09 913.86 1118.76 18 Mizoram 611.65 507.96 540.39 19 Nagaland 287.85 641.5 899.76 20 Odisha 3763.8 4906.78 4645.73 21 Punjab 1331.61 1169.84 1182.13 22 Rajasthan 7581.87 8683.98 9662.99 23 Sikkim 97.57 112.19 92.71 24 Tamil Nadu 7585.49 12616.53 9743.53 25 Telangana 3825.31 3520.87 2999.11 26 Tripura 1041.7 1043.59 924.6 27 Uttar Pradesh 9721.48 9844.25 10652.24 28 Uttarakhand 626.43 553.81 794.72 29 West Bengal* 0 0 1.33 30 Andaman & Nicobar 4.44 0 9.6 31 Dadra & Nagar Haveli Daman & Diu 9.02 2.21 1.62 32 Lakshadweep 0.32 0 0 33 Puducherry 40.56 58.77 24.95 34 Ladakh 85.98 62.64 68.93 Total 85333.69 88760.49 90219.10 *The release of funds to the State of West Bengal under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (Mahatma Gandhi NREGS) was also stopped with effect from 09.03.2022 by invoking the provisions of Section 27 of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005, owing to continued non-compliance with the directives of the Central Government by the State. ***** Page 4 of 4