Noting that the Uttar Pradesh Government’s utilisation of MNREGA funds was less than 10 per cent, the Centre has asked the State to address “critical implementation issues” to get more amount.

In a letter to the Chief Minister, Mr Akhilesh Yadav, the Rural Development Minister, Mr Jairam Ramesh, has pointed at the poor utilisation of funds and said the Centre could release more amount provided the State addressed issues of implementation of the rural job scheme.

“The monsoons have delayed this year. This may spike up the demand for wage-based works under MNREGA. The Ministry can release more funds to the State in the current financial year ...but for the critical, institutional and programmatic implementation issues under the scheme preventing the release,” the Minister said in his letter.

“There are 362 complaints of general and VIP category where ATRs (Action Taken Reports) are still awaited from the State, out of these 118 are more than one year old,” Mr Ramesh said, seeking Mr Yadav’s personal intervention in addressing the issues.

In addition to having an opening balance of Rs 1,468.98 crore, according to the Management Information System, UP has utilised only 9.65 per cent of the available funds, he said.

Noting that there was “huge difference in the opening balance and closing balance” of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Development Scheme funds in the State, he asked the Chief Minister to set up social audit unit at the earliest.

The opening balance with the State as on April 1, was Rs 1,468.98 crores and the Rural Development Ministry in May has released the first instalment of Rs 700 crore to Uttar Pradesh, which is 50 per cent of the Central share for first six months (up to September) for current financial year.

Mr Ramesh has assured his Ministry’s “fullest support” to the State Government to provide jobs to an anticipated labour demand of 33.94 crore persondays under the scheme. This translates into Central share of Rs 6,789.85 crore.

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