State governments have acknowledged that over 49 lakh claims for wage payments under the 100-day rural job scheme have been delayed beyond the stipulated 15 days, counted from the completion of work.

In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha on Friday, minister for rural development Kamlesh Paswan shared the data, highlighting the hardships faced by poor rural workers owing to the payment delay.

Under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), every rural family is entitled to 100 days of work in a year and the wages are supposed to be paid within 15 days from the completion of work. There is a provision for compensation for delayed wage payments at the rate of 0.05 per cent of the unpaid wages per day for each day of delay beyond the sixteenth day after the closure of the muster roll.

After the completion of work, state government officials are supposed to generate a funds transfer order (FTO) for payment of wages within eight days and send it to the Centre, which needs to process it within the next seven days. Delays happen at both ends.

Several studies have found that delayed wage payment is one of the main factors that keep workers away from MGNREGA projects.

Congress Rajya Sabha member Jebi Mather Hisham had asked the government to share details on the number of claims for delayed payment submitted and approved.

Sharing the data, Paswan said the state governments were supposed to pay the delay compensation. According to the Centre, the state governments have approved 49.18 lakh claims for delayed compensation in 2024-25 till March 25 this year, of which 12.94 lakh claims have been settled.

Chakradhar Buddha, a senior researcher at a private research organisation called LibTech India, said the cases admitted for delayed compensation were just the tip of the iceberg. In 90 per cent of the cases, the delay happens at the end of the rural development ministry in processing the FTOs but the Center does not pay any compensation, he said.

“The rural development ministry seems willing to take into account only the delay in the generation of FTOs (by the states). The delay in processing FTOs at its end is not considered a delay. A study by LibTech India has found significant challenges in Stage 2 processing at the end of ministry,” he said.

A parliamentary standing committee on rural development had in a report tabled in Parliament earlier this month expressed concern over the delay in MGNREGA wage payment. The committee has urged the government to release funds on time and coordinate with the states to prevent delay in wage disbursement.

As of Sunday, the pending liability under the MGNREGA is ₹27,000 crore.