The Center has spent ₹5 lakh crore on the MGNREGA scheme during the last eight years, of which 20% was spent during the period. covid-19 pandemicUnion Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said.
Speaking to reports in Telangana’s Kamareddy district on Thursday, he said that the state had been given 20,000 crores under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in the last eight years.
“During the last eight years, Telangana got ₹20,000 crore under MGNREGA. ₹5 lakh crore has been spent across the country during the same period, of which more than 20% was spent in 2020-21 during the COVID-19 pandemic,” she said in response to a query.
The important point in this is that if there is a complaint that the money has not been spent or there is any comment in the audit report, then the survey teams (in any state) will come.
Referring to the allegation that survey teams are being sent to work out the plan, he said that the survey teams will come to rectify the discrepancies, if any.
He further said that during the UPA regime there were many loopholes in the scheme and the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government has rectified them and is implementing it through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT).
Criticizing the TRS government in Telangana for allegedly rising debt, farmers’ distress and other issues, the Union minister said the state which used to be revenue surplus has now gone into revenue deficit.
He claimed that K. Chandrashekhar Rao’s government was taking loans without showing it in the budget and without informing the state assembly.
Farmers’ debt is huge in the state and it ranks fourth in farmer suicides, Ms Sitharaman added.
The minister also accused the TRS government of renaming central schemes and projecting them as state schemes.
On Thursday, she attended a meeting of district office-bearers, divisional presidents and workers of Zaheerabad parliamentary constituency in Kamareddy town under the ‘Lok Sabha Pravas Yojana’.