Kolkata, Dec 31 (IANS) Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee Thursday slammed the West Bengal government for being one of the worst performers in implementing the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS).
“West Bengal has not been successful in implementing NREGS. It is lagging behind,” Mukherjee said at a convention of Congress women’s unit.

He pointed out that the state has failed to provide 100 days of work to the rural poor as mandated under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act.

Mukherjee, who is also the state Congress president, urged party workers to find out reasons behind the failures in the scheme’s implementation at the block and ‘panchayat’ (village council) levels.

He said self-help groups should be strengthened so as to secure economic stability for women.

“Woman empowerment is very much needed for the development of the country. The women’s organisations should play a vital role in making more self-help groups,” he said.

Mukherjee regretted that the states were unable to fully spend the amounts allotted for women’s welfare schemes and large chunks of money were returned to the union finance ministry.

“A large chunk of money allotted to each state under women’s welfare schemes is coming back to the ministry. It should be seen that the whole amount is utilised,” said Mukherjee.