New Delhi, Aug. 18: Not even 1 per cent households in Bengal got the promised 100 days’ work under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) in 2009, the latest report of the rural development ministry has revealed.

Out of the total 31,15,422 households, only 19,163 got 100 days’ employment. Households on an average got 32 days of work. Seventy-two per cent of eligible households got merely 15 days of employment, the report said. This is despite the fact that over 70 per cent of job-seeking households in the state are in the Below Poverty Line category.

Bengal also fares badly on the participation of women and Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. The percentage of Scheduled Castes’ participation was 36.7, for Scheduled Tribes the figure was 14.2 and for women, 31.7.

Cooch Behar and Burdwan were among the state’s worst performers.

However, the state has a good record in disbursing wages through post offices and bank accounts. Around 94 per cent of the wages have been disbursed through registered accounts, putting Bengal among the top performers on this count.

The report said Bengal completed 51 per cent of the jobs it took up during the period, including rural connectivity, flood control, drought proofing, renovation of traditional water bodies and micro irrigation. Most states completed over 60 per cent.

But Bengal has company at the bottom of the NREGA performance chart, with Kerala, Punjab and Uttarakhand also providing 100 days’ work to around 1 per cent households.

Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka are the only states to have crossed the 10 per cent mark in providing 100 days of employment. The figure for most states hovers around 5-6 per cent.

“West Bengal has been consistent in performing badly ever since NREGA was introduced. It is high time the state takes a re-look at what is ailing the system,” a rural development ministry official said.

Bengal had recently asked the Centre to raise the minimum wage under NREGA and got rebuffed. It had argued that there should be a wage revision on the basis of different socio-economic conditions of the states and also wanted the figure to be linked to inflation.

The Centre responded that Bengal could spend from its own kitty if it wanted to pay more. However, the state at present does not even pay the Rs 100 that the Centre is willing to give as wages. Bengal pays Rs 75-80 for work under the job scheme.

Bengal panchayat development minister Anisur Rahman, whose department monitors the work done under the job scheme, said: “I have to go through the report to be able to comment properly on the issue. But I can say that the situation has been improving and this year is going to be much better than the last. But many of those who secure job cards don’t actually require it so they don’t show up for work. Barely a third of the total cardholders show up for work. Some work for a day, some for 10 days and others for 100 days. The data collected is for the whole group and as a result, the average suffers.”