Congress MP Varun Chaudhary has accused the Haryana government of failing to pay unemployment allowance to workers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), even though the law clearly requires it. He said that despite having lakhs of active workers registered under the scheme, the state has not paid a single rupee in unemployment allowance in the last five years.
Chaudhary shared details from a written reply he received from the Union ministry of rural development in Parliament. According to this reply, in the financial year 2024–25, only 2,191 households in Haryana were given the full 100 days of employment that the scheme guarantees. This is a very small number compared to the 8,06,422 active workers registered under MGNREGS in the state. The MP said this huge gap shows how many workers who demanded work did not receive it, and therefore should have been eligible for unemployment allowance.
The ministry confirmed that no unemployment allowance has been recorded as paid by the Haryana government on NREGASoft — the official online portal used to track the scheme. This lack of recorded payments covers the last five financial years, meaning that even if workers were entitled to the allowance, they did not receive it.
According to the reply from minister of state Kamlesh Paswan, MGNREGS is a demand-driven wage employment programme. This means that any eligible rural household can demand work and must be provided with wage employment for up to 100 days each financial year. The law allows any adult member of a rural household to seek unskilled manual work through the programme.
Under Section 7 of the MGNREG Act, if a state government fails to provide employment within 15 days of a worker’s demand, the worker becomes legally entitled to unemployment allowance. This allowance is meant to be a financial protection for workers when the state does not fulfil its responsibility to give them work on time.
Chaudhary pointed out that despite this clear rule, Haryana has not reported paying unemployment allowance for even a single worker in five years. The MP described this as a serious violation of the Act, and said that the state has failed in its duty to support rural workers who depend on the scheme for daily wages.
The Union ministry’s reply did not specify whether any delay compensation was paid by the Haryana government during the last five years. Delay compensation is separate from unemployment allowance and is meant for cases where wage payments are delayed beyond the legally permitted time.
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In the reply tabled in Parliament, MoS Kamlesh Paswan explained the efforts made by the central government to ensure that MGNREGS wages reach workers quickly and on time. He said that beneficiaries are entitled to receive their wages within 15 days of completing work. To ensure this, the government has introduced strict timelines for every stage of payment processing.
The minister outlined several measures adopted by the ministry, including improvements to the National Electronic Fund Management System (Ne-FMS), which handles fund transfers directly into workers’ bank accounts. He also mentioned extensive consultations with state governments and other stakeholders to reduce delays in verification and approval of wage payments.
Paswan said the ministry has developed Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for monitoring timely payment and ensuring that delay compensation is paid wherever necessary. Other steps include the use of Aadhaar Payment Bridge System (APBS) to verify worker identities and the National Mobile Monitoring System (NMMS) for real-time attendance and worksite monitoring.
The minister added that states and Union territories have been regularly advised to generate pay orders on time. The Centre has also emphasised the need for proper verification of pending claims and settlement of delay compensation cases.
While these steps are aimed at improving the overall efficiency of MGNREGS payments, the issue raised by the MP highlights that even with technological systems in place, implementation at the state level can still fall short.
As per the figures shared in the ministry’s reply, the central government released ₹590.19 crore to Haryana for MGNREGS in the year 2024–25. This is an increase from ₹477.87 crore released in the previous financial year. The larger allocation indicates that the Centre has been providing adequate funds for the programme.
However, the MP said the real concern is not just about the availability of funds, but about whether the state is using them effectively, especially to protect workers’ rights. He argued that if only around 2,200 households received 100 days of work despite more than eight lakh active workers, then a huge number of rural families may not be getting the support they are entitled to.
He added that the state government must explain why unemployment allowance — a legal right — has not been paid even once in five years, and why the data on NREGASoft reflects no action.
The issue has sparked fresh debate on the implementation of MGNREGS in Haryana, especially at a time when many rural families continue to rely on the scheme for basic income security. The MP has called for stronger monitoring, more transparency, and better accountability to ensure that the benefits of the scheme reach those who need them most.
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