Abhishek Banerjee, the general secretary of the Trinamool Congress (TMC), once again questioned the centre for pending Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) dues for West Bengal.
The all-powerful nephew of TMC chief Mamata Banerjee, Abhishek, made the comments at a rally during his Jana Sanjog Yatra in South Dinajpur.
“Centre has withheld the common people’s money and is yet to clear the dues. The government should remember that it is the common people who elect the leaders and they can throw them out of power too,” he said.
Highlighting the work done by his aunt, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, Abhishek said, “Didi, on the one hand, is showering people with social schemes like Lakshmi Bhandar, Swasthya Sathi, Kanyashree.”
On April 5, a delegation of 25 TMC MPs, including Abhishek, met the Panchayati Raj department secretary on pending MGNREGA dues to the state of West Bengal.
Earlier, Mamata Banerjee had written to the Prime minister urging him to clear the pending MGNREGA dues outstanding of more than ₹7000 crores.
The central government, however, said that misappropriation and other irregularities have been found in the MGNREGA scheme in West Bengal.
Taking a dig at PM Modi’s iconic Mann Ki Baat radio program, which recently aired its landmark 100th episode, Abhishek said, “PM is busy doing 100 Mann Ki Baat episodes while people in Bengal are deprived of 100-day work money.” “People are failing to get Roti and Bhaat (rice) while the PM is busy doing Mann Ki Baat,” he added.
“While TMC had approached the concerned department on several occasions to clear the dues, to date the bottleneck situation continues,” he further said.
In 2022, the central government stopped releasing funds by imposing Section 27 of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005, in West Bengal. It also froze funding support for the state.
The central government said that it had taken steps following several complaints of misappropriation of funds and other irregularities.