THE BJP’s victory in the West Bengal Assembly elections is expected to clear the path for the resumption of funding under key central schemes, which had been stalled for years due to a prolonged standoff between the NDA government at the Centre and the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC government in the state.

Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who also holds Rural Development portfolio, said on Monday that all the development work including the Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G) Act, 2025 will be implemented in the state at a faster pace.

“The work was halted because irregularities had occurred… The state government took no action against those responsible for these irregularities. The funds allocated for these schemes were intended for the poor, not for misuse… They changed the name of the scheme to Bangla Yojana… Now, all developmental works including VB-G RAM G will be done at a fast pace,” Chouhan told The Indian Express.

Chouhan said the rules and guidelines of the VB-G RAM G have been finalised and the same will be rolled out very soon.

Terming the BJP’s victory in the West Bengal Assembly polls a “bhavuk pal (an emotional moment)”, Chouhan said he held several meetings during the Assembly election campaign in the state.

The Centre enacted the VB-G RAM G law last year replacing the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005.

The Centre had stopped the release of funds to West Bengal with effect from March 9, 2022 “due to non-compliance of directives of central government”, by invoking Section 27 of the MGNREGA, 2005. Since then, no work under the NREGS has happened in the state. Before the scheme’s suspension, West Bengal was among the top states — 51 to 80 lakh families in the state availed it annually between 2014-15 and 2021-22. The total spending under the MGNREGS in West Bengal was well over Rs 10,000 crore per annum (Rs 10,027 crore in 2020-21 and Rs 10,907 crore in 2021-22).

Sources in the West Bengal government say the total Central share (both actual and projected) could be around Rs 43,000 crore for the MGNREGS. The projected NREGS dues are calculated based on average annual spending (about Rs 10,000 crore) under the scheme in the state before it was halted in March 2022. According to the sources, a Central share of Rs 24,275 crore is due for PMAY-G. The Centre had stopped release of funds under the rural housing scheme following complaints of alleged irregularities in the implementation of the scheme in the state.

However, the Centre pegs the dues at a much lower level. Responding to a starred question asked by TMC member Jawhar Sircar, Chouhan’s predecessor and then rural development minister Giriraj Singh on December 6, 2023 informed the Rajya Sabha that a total amount of Rs 13,965.91 crore was pending as central share for two schemes —MGNREGS and PMAY-G.

According to the sources at the Union Ministry of Rural Development, an amount of Rs 3083 crore was outstanding to West Bengal under the MG-NREGS as on March 9, 2022 and an expenditure of Rs 2,513 crore was incurred by the state government after stoppage of funds by the Centre, taking the total dues to Rs 5,596 crore.

According to the data available with the Union Ministry of Rural Development, the Centre had set a target of 45.69 lakh houses under the PMAY-G since the scheme launched in 2016. Of these, 34.20 lakh houses have been completed. The Bengal government sources say the state would have got additional 33 lakh houses had the Centre not stopped the release of funds.

As per the sources, the state government has been requesting for approval of around 2,000 km of rural roads under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY).