KOLKATA: It may be the impact of the efforts put in by officials led by panchayat minister Subrata Mukherjee in the past few months, or a matter of outdoing the former Left Front government in terms of figures. But the fact is that the Mamata Banerjee government has spent a whopping Rs 982.86 crore in this March alone under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) programme.
The amount spent in March is approximately one-third of what was spent throughout the year – Rs 2959.04 crore.
In March 2011, the former Left Front government had spent Rs 432.57 crore.
Also, the total number of man-days – which indicates the number of days of job created – has increased from 31.07 to 33 this year.
According to Mukherjee, the fact that so much money could be spent in a month is itself a record in the country.
Former panchayat minister Anisur Rahaman, in the Left Front government however, would take all this with a pinch of salt. He says that the main yardstick is not how much money has been spent, but how many man-days were created and how many families got work.
"In any case, the total pay per day has increased over the years, so the total amount of funds spent will also increase. Therefore, that cannot be a reliable yardstick," said Rahaman.
Interestingly, the average man-days per household was 44.59 in 2009-10, much higher than the two following years.
Mukherjee says that there is no doubt about the fact that work was done and it gained momentum towards March, when the figures indicate how much work was done on the fields.
"If the total funds spent increase so much, it does after all indicate work was done, not otherwise," Mukherjee said.
There are 1.1 crore job card holders in Bengal, though 60% don’t use the cards.
FOR BOX:
2009-10:
34 lakh families got jobs
44.59 is the number of man days created per month per household on an average
2010-11:
Rs 2532.46 crore (total money spent)
49 lakh families got jobs
31.07 is the number of man days created per month per household on an average
2011-12:
Rs 2959.04 crore (total money spent)
33 is the number of man days created per month per household on an average
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March 2011-12: 5.72 crore man days
March 2010-11: 2.1 crore man days
March 2011-12: Rs 982.86 crore
March 2010-11: Rs 432.57 crore