MGNREGA alert: 18-fold jump in digging of irrigation wells in Maharashtra grabs Centre’s attention
Expenditure on well digging jumps six-fold to Rs 1056 crore this year
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By comparison the two districts registered less than 5 per cent digging of wells in the previous fiscal with only 1391 and 425 wells in the previous fiscal. (File Photo)Maharashtra government’s 550% jump in expenditure on digging irrigation wells from Rs 163.04 crore in 2023-24 to around Rs 1,056.41 crore in the ongoing fiscal under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) has drawn the attention of the central government. While suggesting a ‘serious review at state level,’ the center remarked that instead of a bottom-up approach, the state has taken a top-down approach to ‘to generate high persondays and high expenditure.’
Data available with The Indian Express shows that two districts in Marathwada, namely Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and Beed have been the biggest beneficiaries of this work related to ‘digging wells’ as they have been allotted 28,381 (596 completed and 27,785 ongoing) and 26,904 (283 completed and 26,621 ongoing) irrigation wells respectively.
By comparison the two districts registered less than 5 per cent digging of wells in the previous fiscal with only 1391 and 425 wells in the previous fiscal. The expenditure in these two districts too has skyrocketed. In 2023-24, the money spent on this in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and Beed was Rs 31.08 crore and Rs 11.09 crore only, which has increased multifold to Rs 215.45 crore and Rs 107.07 crore, respectively.
Maharashtra’s former EGS minister from CM Eknath Shinde led Shiv Sena, Sandipan Bhumare hails from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, which received the maximum allocation. He resigned after he won the Lok Sabha election from this constituency.
Other districts that have seen a significant rise in expenditure include, Yavatmal (10,787 wells and Rs 79 cr), Parbhani (10,943 wells and Rs 62.91 cr), Latur (8,196 wells and Rs 66.30 cr), Washim (9,629 wells and Rs 51.63 cr), Nanded (9,616 wells and Rs 59.23 cr), Jalna (8,907 wells and Rs 53.65 cr).
The details are part of the letter sent by Center to the state and it pointed out that ‘in the current FY 2024-25 (till 06.06.2024), it has been observed that a significant portion of the expenditure (45.3%) was made towards construction of irrigation well works. Specifically, 1,43,622 works related to construction of irrigation wells are being undertaken (spillover new), amounting to Rs 529.51 crore indicating a lack of strategic action taken by the state.’ While this data is as per the letter sent by the center to the state, as per the recent data the number of wells to be dug is over 1.73 lakh amounting to Rs 1,056 crore.
The letter dated June 11, 2024, sent by joint secretary, Rural Development, MGNREGA addressed to Dinesh Waghmare, Principal Secretary of the department, pointed out a ‘surprise increase’ of 175 per cent in the persondays generated under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Scheme during April and May 2024 – around general elections – as compared to that during COVID pandemic. The center also pointed out the increase in the percentage of persondays in certain districts, such as Washim(869%), Chatrapati Sambhaji Nagar(491%), Beed(487%), Dharashiv(465%), Solapur(445%), Parbhani(391%), Dhule(377%), Bhandara(374%), Latur(338%), Akola(3l3%), Wardha(313%) Nagpur(285%) and Nanded(281%). “…generation of persondays in May 2024 as compared to May 2023 is more than the state average,” said the letter.
The letter said, “Around 1.44 Cr (392%) and 2.58 Cr (174%) more persondays have been generated in April 2024 and May 2024 respectively as compared to April 2023 and May 2023. On comparing the persondays generation of 2024-25 with FY 2020-21, 2021-22, 2022-23 & 2023-24 upto the month of May, the persondays increased are 175%, 192%, 57% & 174% respectively.”
Maharashtra government however has objected to the center’s comparison of persondays with another year. On July 8, 2024, Waghmare sent a clarification with a request for timely release of funds. Highlighting that ‘the state is focused on providing ‘har khet ko pani’ through initiatives like ‘catch the rains when it falls where it falls’ by adding recharge pits called Jaltara for dugwells under the ridge to valley concept of the watershed Development Program.
“Recently dugwells were wrongly excluded from NRM activities. It is important to highlight Maharashtra’s unique geological rock formation, with 83 per cent black basalt and 11 per cent metamorphic rocks, lacks sub-surface water storage capacity. Therefore, dugwells with recharge pits and farm ponds for additional water storage are the only solution for Har Khet ko Pani,” said the letter from Waghmare to Caralyn Khondwar Deshmukh, Additional Secretary, RD, MGNREGA. The letter also requested the center to annul the observations in its previous letter and release the funds.
When contacted, Nand Kumar, Director General, MGNREGA – Maharashtra, said that the state government held a meeting with the center regarding its remarks and all doubts have been clarified. “The whole idea is to ensure water storage for farmers. There has been tremendous demand from farmers for this and sanctions have been given after studying every detail. It is natural that areas in Marathwada may have higher demand (for irrigation wells), but we are not going beyond the scope of the MGNREGA while granting permissions to it,” he said.
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