GTA gets Rs 130 crore for pending wages of 100 days’ work project

EOI, DARJEELING, FEBRUARY 25, 2024 : With the West Bengal Government sanctioning the pending funds for 100 days’ work under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, the Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha has got a shot in the arm before the LokSabha election. 

BGPM president Anit Thapa on Sunday said the woes of the deprived beneficiaries of the MGNREGS in the hills would end.

The share of the GTA in the fund released for pending wage payment under 100 days’ work amounted to about Rs 130 crore. 

"I thank West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for addressing the problem of the hill people by sanctioning the 100 days’ fund which was stopped by the Centre," he said in a Press statement on Sunday. 

The State Government has directed the Principal Secretary GTA to arrange disbursement of the respective amounts through direct benefit transfer to the verified bank accounts of the identified wage seekers of the MGNREGS. 

The Centre had stopped the payment of MGNREGS funds in West Bengal on the ground that the State Government under the Trinamool Congress had misused the funds for political and personal benefits of its leaders. 

The Centre had asked for utilization certificates for funds sanctioned earlier. As per the orders of the State Panchayats and Rural Development department of the state government, the payment of the released funds will start from February 26 onwards and be completed by March 1. Utilization certificates are to be furnished immediately after the disbursement process.