Over 1.23 cr ‘inactive’ job cards under MGNREGS cancelled in Bihar: Minister

Patna: The Bihar government has cancelled more than 1.2 crore “inactive” job cards under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in the last one year, a minister said on Monday.

The government has also provided 23.07 lakh fresh job cards to labourers in various districts of the state during the period, state Rural Development Minister Shrawan Kumar said.

“During a drive by the Bihar Rural Development Department (till April 30), a total of 1,23,13,927 job cards, out of 3,85,69,626, were found inactive for the last several years. In some cases, job cards were found fake or were not linked with provided Aadhaar numbers, or beneficiaries had died.

“We have cancelled all such cards after proper physical verification. Besides, cards of labourers who had earlier obtained MGNREGS jobs and migrated from the state have also been found inactive for the last several years,” Kumar told PTI.

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005 (MGNREGA) is aimed at enhancing the livelihood security of households in rural areas of the country by providing at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in a financial year.

The maximum number of cancellations have been reported from Vaishali (8,89,150), followed by Patna (7,55,308), Samastipur (6,30,654), Araria (6,14,530), Darbhanga (5,79,778), Aurangabad (2,20,330) and Begusarai (3,13,696), he said.

Under the scheme, the government had provided jobs to 1.26 crore cardholders in various parts of the state in the 2022-23 financial year, the minister said.

“The department has issued a total of 23.07 lakh fresh job cards to labourers in different districts of the state in the last one year.

"Besides, instructions have been given to officials concerned to provide employment under the scheme to job seekers within 15 days of their demand and penalty will be imposed on government officials concerned if they fail to comply with MGNREGA guidelines,” the minister added.