West Bengal has begun a time-bound re-verification of 100-day work scheme arrears before any pending wages are released, with the state government directing district administrations to establish which claims are supported by official records and evidence of work completed.
The Panchayat and Rural Development Department sent instructions to all district magistrates on October 29, according to a report by Anandabazar. The process will examine arrears for the 2024-25 financial year and earlier periods, while claims for 2025-26 and 2026-27 will be considered separately by the Union Ministry of Rural Development.
The re-check has been ordered after the state government began work on clearing dues under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, commonly known as the 100-day work scheme. The administration has decided against distributing the money through a blanket payment and will prepare a final list of eligible recipients after scrutiny at block, district and state levels.
Officials will check whether the work was actually completed, whether the required administrative and technical approvals were in place, whether expenditure records are accurate and whether funds were diverted to another purpose. Presence of a worker’s name in the central database will not, by itself, be treated as sufficient proof for payment.
The verification has been given a fixed schedule. Block-level scrutiny must be completed by November 15, while district-level investigations and reports must be submitted by November 30. The state-level examination and clearance process is to be completed by December 15. The state government will then send the audited and finally certified arrears figures to the Union Ministry of Rural Development by December 31.
The process follows a prolonged dispute over funding for the employment guarantee scheme in West Bengal. The report said the Centre stopped releasing funds to the state from March 9, 2022, after allegations of large-scale irregularities were raised. The then state government had accused the Centre of deliberately withholding money meant for poor workers, while the then Opposition leader, Suvendu Adhikari, had alleged corruption in the scheme and demanded restrictions on further releases.
The earlier state administration had claimed that it spent around Rs 2,700 crore from the state treasury to pay wages to nearly 30 lakh job card holders after central funds stopped. Ministers from the Panchayat and Rural Development Department also repeatedly approached Union Rural Development Minister Giriraj Singh over the issue, according to the report, but no settlement was reached.
The latest verification exercise does not guarantee payment to every claimant. Administrative officials said only claims found to be valid and supported by prescribed evidence would be included in the final arrears list. The outcome will depend on the records produced by local administrations and the subsequent scrutiny by the state and Union rural development authorities.
