SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir continues to have unpaid material-component liabilities under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) dating back to the 2017-18 financial year, with the Government telling the Legislative Assembly that the outstanding amount had accrued beyond the permissible 40 percent material component limit.
In a written reply to MLA Baldev Raj Sharma, the Department of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj said the permissible material liability for 2017-18 had already been cleared. However, liabilities that accumulated beyond the 40% ceiling remained undistributed, making the excess over the prescribed limit the main reason for the pending payments.
The Government said it had taken up the issue of releasing funds for liquidation of pending material liabilities, including those from 2017-18, with the Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India.
It did not give a definite timeline for clearing the outstanding amount, saying liquidation would depend on the release of requisite funds by the Union Ministry.
“Since clearance is dependent upon release of funds by the Ministry of Rural Development, GoI, a definite date for complete liquidation of the reported liabilities cannot be indicated at this stage,” the department said.
The district-wise figures furnished in the Assembly reply show reported material liabilities of 10,119.55 for the Kashmir division and 17,609.90 for the Jammu division, taking the combined figure listed in the annexure to 27,729.45. The annexure, as supplied with the reply, does not specify the monetary unit for these figures.
In Kashmir division, the highest district-wise figure was reported from Anantnag at 2,327.78, followed by Kupwara at 2,542.87, Kulgam at 1,898.36, Baramulla at 1,279.16 and Ganderbal at 794.91.
Other reported liabilities in the division were 427.89 in Shopian, 391.10 in Budgam, 214.46 in Bandipora, 192.28 in Pulwama and 50.74 in Srinagar.
At the block level, Anantnag district’s Bijbehara had a reported liability of 686.92, while Devsar in Kulgam had 548.16. Wavoora in Kupwara recorded 539.57, while Keller in Shopian had 152.05.
In Baramulla, Uri had a reported liability of 152.06, while Singhpora recorded 128.34 and Perenpillan 117.54.
In Jammu division, Jammu district had the highest reported liability at 6,926.47, followed by Doda at 4,218.12, Udhampur at 1,517.17, Kishtwar at 1,225.25, Ramban at 1,026.51, Kathua at 799.55, Reasi at 785.89, Rajouri at 559.20, Poonch at 410.54 and Samba at 141.20.
The largest block-level figure in the Jammu division was reported from Marh in Jammu district at 977.67. Nagrota recorded 792, while Bhalwal Brahmana had 664 and Maira Manderian 547.
In Doda, Kastigarh had the highest reported liability at 441.08, followed by Dali Udhayanpur at 397.80 and Bhalessa (Gandoh) at 397. In Udhampur, Chenani recorded 342.26, while Udhampur block had 291.04.
Among the other major figures in the division, Banihal in Ramban had a reported liability of 467.41, while Marwah in Kishtwar recorded 261.39 and Buffliaz in Poonch 280.48.
The department said the district- and block-wise position had been furnished by the concerned Directorates and enclosed as Annexure-A to the Assembly reply.
The Government’s response makes clear that the pending liabilities cannot be fully cleared by the UT administration on its own under the present arrangement, as their liquidation is contingent on funds being released by the Ministry of Rural Development.
The reply was tabled in response to a question by Baldev Raj Sharma, MLA from Shri Mata Vaishno Devi, seeking details of unpaid material-component liabilities from 2017-18, their district- and block-wise position and the steps being taken for their clearance.
