Mumbai, March 24 Only 52% of the works undertaken under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) in Maharashtra were completed between 2019-20 and 2023-24, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has said.
The CAG report, presented to the state legislature on Wednesday, stated that 25.72 lakh works were approved during this period, of which only 52.81% were completed.
Authorities spent Rs 6,725.65 crore on completed works, while Rs 5,361.02 crore was spent on incomplete works.
The report stated that approximately 7.10 lakh approved works had not even started as of March 2025, including 2.48 lakh works that remained pending for more than three years. Of the 5.03 lakh incomplete works, as many as 1.07 lakh had been pending completion for over three years.
The report also highlighted that, according to the MGNREGS, work must be provided within 15 days of demand, failing which registered households are entitled to unemployment allowance. However, it found that out of the Rs 34.85 lakh due as unemployment allowance during 2019-20 to 2023-24, only Rs 2,268 was paid, leaving Rs 34.83 lakh unpaid.
The CAG also raised serious concerns about the social audits of the works under the scheme. Of the Rs 11.22 crore to be recovered in 1,084 misappropriation cases identified by the Social Audit Unit, recovery action in 314 cases involving Rs 4.44 crore remained pending.
The report blamed inadequate funding for this. The Social Audit Unit received less than one-third of the required funds from the Government of India, while the state government also transferred insufficient funds to it, the CAG said.
The Maharashtra State Employment Guarantee Council, which is supposed to monitor the implementation of the scheme, did not hold regular meetings, the CAG noted.
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