Lok Sabha Question No. 1367 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-02-11
Subject: Pending Wages
Ministry: RURAL DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Shri Harish Chandra Meena, Adv Gowaal Kagada Padavi, Adv. Adoor Prakash, Prof. Sougata Ray, Shri Anto Antony, Shri K Sudhakaran

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1367 ANSWERED ON 11/02/2025

## PENDING WAGES

## 1367. SHRI ANTO ANTONY:

PROF. SOUGATA RAY:

ADV. ADOOR PRAKASH:

ADV GOWAAL KAGADA PADAVI:

SHRI HARISH CHANDRA MEENA:

SHRI K SUDHAKARAN:

Will the Minister of RURAL DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has set a timeframe, as stipulated by Section  27  of    Mahatma  Gandhi  National  Rural  Employment Guarantee  (MGNREG)  Act,  2005,  to  revoke  the  order  dated March  9,  2022  under  section  27  and  to  restart  work  in  West Bengal;
- (b) the  time  by  which  the  Government  intend  to  pay  all  pending wages and material dues to West Bengal;
- (c) the measures taken by the Government to implement MGNREGS properly after stopping funds;
- (d) the  mechanism  followed  by  the  Government  to  assess  the number of workers unable to register their attendance due to issues  with  the  National  Mobile  Monitoring  System  (NMMS) attendance app;
- (e) the  guidelines  followed  by  the  Government  to  ensure  that  no worker is denied wages due to issues with digital attendance recording on the NMMS app;
- (f) the total number of complaints filed regarding issues with the NMMS app and details of action taken, State-wise; and
- (g) the  total  number  of  attendance  discrepancies  between  the NMMS app and physical muster rolls between April 2023 and October 31, 2024, State-wise including Rajasthan?

(a)to(c): As per the provisions of Mahatma  Gandhi NREG Act, 2005, it  is  the  responsibility  of  the  State  Government  to  ensure transparency  and  accountability in the implementation  of the scheme.  In  case  of  the  State  of  West  Bengal,  based  on central teams' inspection  reports  highlighting the  implementation  issues such as financial misappropriation, execution of non-permissible activities, splitting of works, lack of transparency & accountability, the Ministry sent several communications to the State for rectification  of  the  same.  However,  no  noticeable improvements were observed. Consequently, release of funds to the State of West Bengal has been stopped since March 9, 2022, under Section 27 of the Act due to non-compliance with Central Government directives. The latest  Action  Taken  Report  has  been  received  from  the  State vide letter dated January 14, 2025.

(d)  &(e):  To  ensure  more  transparency  in  the  implementation  of Mahatma Gandhi NREGS in the States/UTs, the Ministry has decided that States/UTs shall ensure capturing of attendance at the worksite  through  National  Mobile  Monitoring  System  (NMMS)  App with geo-tagged two-time stamped photographs of the worker in a day for all the works (except Individual Beneficiary Scheme/Project) through NMMS w.e.f 1st January, 2023.

In case  worksite  is not  located  in  network  covered  area  or attendance could not be uploaded due to any other network issue then  attendance  can  be  captured  in  offline  mode  and  can  be uploaded once the device comes into network covered area. In case of exceptional circumstances owing to which attendance could not be uploaded, the provision for exemption also exists.

(f):  State-wise  number  of  complaints  received  on  the  Centralized Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAM) related to the issues with NMMS app is given below:

| State          |   Number of complaints |
|----------------|------------------------|
| Bihar          |                     15 |
| Rajasthan      |                      1 |
| Uttar Pradesh  |                      1 |
| Madhya Pradesh |                      1 |

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Appropriate  action  has  been  taken  by  the  respective  States  on these complaints and action taken reports have been uploaded on the portal.

(g):  There have been no reported cases of attendance data discrepancies between the NMMS app and physical muster rolls.

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