Less than 10% unemployment allowance paid, insufficient funds given, no monitoring’: CAG

The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), in a report on works under the central Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA), said that 2.572 million projects were approved in Maharashtra but only 52.81% were completed

MUMBAI: The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), in a report on works under the central Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA), said that 2.572 million projects were approved in Maharashtra but only 52.81% were completed. The CAG report, covering the years 2019-20 to 2023-24, was presented in the state legislature on Wednesday.

Less than 10% unemployment allowance paid, insufficient funds given, no monitoring’: CAG

Elaborating on the incomplete projects, the report says that around 7,10,000 of these projects had not even begun by March 2025. Of the 5,03,000 (19.57%) incomplete works, 1,07,000 (21%) were pending completion for more than three years. ₹6,725.65 crore was spent on the completed works under MGNREGA 2005 from 2019-20 to 2023-24 and ₹5,361.02 crore on the incomplete works.

As per MGNREGA norms, work has to be provided within 15 days of a worker registering for the scheme or the date on which the work has been demanded in case of an advance application, whichever is later. If the work cannot be provided as per demand within the specified timeframe, the registered households are supposed to get an unemployment allowance. “The audit observed that out of an amount of ₹34.85 lakh due as unemployment allowance during the period 2019-20 to 2023-24 in the state, only ₹2,268 was paid and ₹34.83 lakh was unpaid,” states the CAG report.

The report also observes that the social audit of the works by the gram panchayats undertaken under the scheme was deficient, with shortfalls ranging between 72.43% and 95.67% of gram panchayats. It also points out that of ₹11.22 crore to be recovered in 1,084 misappropriation cases pointed out by the social audit unit in this period, action for recovery in 314 cases amounting to ₹4.44 crore was pending.

“In reply, the Director, SAU (Social Audit Unit), stated (in June 2024) that the fund received from GOI (Government of India) for conducting a social audit was less than one-third of the fund actually required for the year, due to which the SA conducted was less than planned,” says the CAG report. Thus, not only was the fund from GOI insufficient to conduct social audits but the fund transferred by the state government to SAU was less. Thus, SA, which is an institutionalised mechanism for continuous public vigilance of the scheme to ensure public accountability in the implementation of projects, suffered due to paucity of funds.”

The CAG report also pointed out an ineffective monitoring system—the Maharashtra State Employment Guarantee Council has been constituted to monitor the implementation of MGNREGA but it did not hold regular meetings for this. “For quality monitoring of the works, the Director, State Quality Monitoring, was appointed at the State level; however, State Quality Monitors (SQM) for each district were not appointed,” the report points out.