Bengal has started executing rural development schemes sponsored by the Centre and stalled since March 2022, as the Union government has sanctioned more than ₹1,500 crore for the 100-day employment guarantee project and village roads and approved the construction of 10 lakh housing units.

“The 100 days’ job scheme started across Bengal today (on Tuesday) as the state allotted ₹700 crore to undertake the project in June. All 2.56 crore job card holders will get employment under the scheme in June before the new job scheme VB-G RAM G is implemented from July 1. The state is expected to get an allotment of ₹12,500 crore under the new scheme for the remaining period of the ongoing financial year,” said a senior state government official.

Not only the 100-day job scheme, the Centre also approved ₹800 crore to develop rural roads in the state and gave the sanction to build 10 lakh housing units for the rural poor under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY).

“The state had sent a proposal to develop 2,700km of rural roads at an expenditure of ₹2,500 crore. The Centre has approved proposals worth ₹800 crore initially, and work under the scheme will start soon,” said a senior state government official.

The state has started a survey to identify the probable beneficiaries of the PMAY, and by mid-July, a permanent waiting list of beneficiaries will be framed.

“About 10 lakh beneficiaries from the waiting list would start getting funds to construct concrete houses replacing their mud houses from July-end. The number of beneficiaries could be much higher based on further approvals,” said a source.

While the rural development schemes are set to be implemented in Bengal, the new government is cautious that the funds are not misappropriated.

“The Centre had stopped releasing funds under the rural development schemes citing irregularities and large-scale misappropriation of funds. Now, the state does not want to face a similar question as it needs central funds to give jobs and other benefits to people in the state,” said an official.

The chief secretary, Manoj Agarwal, wrote a letter to the district magistrates, asking them to follow all the guidelines and measures laid down by the Centre while implementing the 100-day job scheme to prevent misappropriationof funds.

“Experience has shown that inadequate planning, excessive sanctioning of works beyond supervisory capacity, poor execution, weak measurement and verification, non-compliance with technical sanctions, delayed closure of works, poor MIS update, inadequate inspections, weak social audits, ineffective grievance redressal and poor record maintenance adversely affected Scheme implementation,” reads the letter sent to the DMs.

The chief secretary also wrote that the focus of the job scheme should be the creation of durable assets and mentioned the areas in which the projects should be drawn up under the scheme.

“It must be understood that the primary focus of the Scheme shall be the creation of durable, productive and sustainable community assets through permissible works with emphasis on Natural Resource management, water conservation and harvesting, drought proofing, flood management, irrigation, rural connectivity and other livelihood enhancement,” the letter reads.

A section of the officials pointed out that it was good that Agarwal clarified the areas on which the gram panchayats should focus while carrying out the schemes.

“The previous government had focused on tree plantation, earth digging and restoration of waterbodies under the 100-day jobs scheme, resulting in mass-scale irregularities under the scheme,” said a bureaucrat