Syed Junaid Hashmi
JAMMU, Sept 30: Jammu and Kashmir had outstanding MGNREGA liabilities of Rs 704.39 crore at the end of March 2024 while only two per cent of the households counted in employment records over five years received 100 days of work.
CAG has said this in a wide-ranging audit of Mahatama Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) which has now been renamed as Vikshit Bharat-Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Grameen) Act-2025, commonly abbreviated as VB-G RAM G, in its report for the period ended March 2024 tabled today in the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah.
Report says that liabilities comprised Rs 49.19 crore in unskilled wages, Rs 646.92 crore in material and skilled or semi-skilled wages, and Rs 8.28 crore in administrative expenses. CAG said the material-related dues alone were equivalent to 49 per cent of the Rs 1,333.25 crore spent on material and skilled or semi-skilled labour during 2019-20 to 2023-24. Payments had remained pending for periods ranging from one to five years.
The report also found that 14.82 lakh, or 74 per cent, of the 20.16 lakh works taken up in J&K during the five-year period remained incomplete after expenditure of Rs 1,897.10 crore. Only 5.34 lakh works, or 26 per cent of those started, had been completed. Another 6.98 lakh of the 27.14 lakh planned works were not taken up at all.
The Rural Development Department said a significant number of works shown as incomplete had been physically finished but could not be financially closed because the Centre had not released the corresponding material component. The CAG said this claim was not supported by documentary evidence.
The subject-specific compliance audit covered 2019-20 to 2023-24. It examined records at the UT level and in five sampled districts – Anantnag, Kupwara, Jammu, Poonch and Rajouri – along with 10 blocks and 40 Gram Panchayats. Audit teams physically verified 400 works and surveyed 400 beneficiaries between July and December 2024. The Department’s replies, including those given during an exit conference in September 2025, were incorporated in the report.
High Employment Coverage but Few Reached 100 Days
The CAG credited the Department with providing some employment to a large majority of those who sought it. Across the five financial years, the scheme recorded 37.82 lakh household demands for work and employment was provided in 34.99 lakh cases, or 93 per cent. In the five sampled districts, 13.88 lakh of 14.60 lakh household demands, or 95 per cent, resulted in employment.
However, only 77,512 household records across J&K, or two per cent of the demand total, received 100 days of employment. In the sampled districts, 25,655 households, again about two per cent, reached the 100-day mark.
The Department said some households that initially demanded employment did not report for work when it was made available. It also said J&K notified unemployment-allowance rules in August 2024 and instructed all districts to act under them. The CAG maintained that providing at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment remained the central objective of the scheme.
No special drive was conducted during 2019-24 to identify persons with disabilities and other vulnerable workers. Employment was provided to between 30 and 35 per cent of registered differently abled persons, but demand data was not maintained and none received 100 days of work. The Department said the absence of a separate demand field for differently abled workers would be raised with the Union Rural Development Ministry, which manages the information system.
Wage and Vendor Payments Remained Pending
Of the Rs 704.39 crore outstanding across J&K, Rs 245.08 crore related to the five sampled districts. The Department said the liabilities would be cleared when funds were received from the Union Rural Development Ministry.
Payment failures added to the backlog. Of 3.16 lakh rejected transactions worth Rs 77.24 crore during 2019-24, 2.83 lakh transactions worth Rs 48.91 crore related to unskilled wages. Although 2.67 lakh transactions worth Rs 65.45 crore were regenerated, 40,349 transactions worth Rs 8.26 crore were still pending at bank level and 8,508 transactions worth Rs 3.53 crore had not been regenerated by March 2024.
The Department said rejection and regeneration were continuing processes designed to ensure payment after bank-account details were authenticated. The CAG said the persistent rejections nevertheless left wages, material costs and administrative charges unpaid.
The audit also found that the J&K Finance Department released Rs 2,150.39 crore of Central MGNREGA funds to the State Employment Guarantee Fund four to 122 days late, after allowing for the prescribed grace period. Under the conditions attached to the sanctions, the UT was liable to pay interest of Rs 44.18 crore for these delays, but no record of an interest demand was available.
The CAG said only Rs 2.04 lakh, or 10 per cent, of Rs 19.60 lakh in approved compensation for delayed wages had been paid, leaving Rs 17.56 lakh unpaid. In 284 of the 400 sampled works, wages were paid one to 254 days beyond the prescribed limit. Compensation of Rs 2.66 lakh for these sampled delays remained outstanding. In the beneficiary survey, 165 workers, or 41 per cent, said they had not received wages within 15 days of completing work.
The Department said it would process the pending compensation and take steps to prevent future delays.
Aadhaar Mapping and Record Failures
J&K had 22.29 lakh registered workers, including 14.61 lakh active workers, in March 2024. The report said 3.33 lakh worker accounts, including 2,088 active accounts, had not been converted to Aadhaar-based payment at that point. In the five sampled districts, failure to map Aadhaar to active workers’ bank accounts led to the rejection of 67,430 transactions worth Rs 11.33 crore during 2019-24.
All 400 surveyed beneficiaries possessed Aadhaar cards, leading the CAG to conclude that the problem lay in mapping and record maintenance rather than the absence of identification. The Department said that by August 14, 2025, all but 21,000 of 14.79 lakh active workers had been brought onto the Aadhaar-based system and payments were being made exclusively through it.
The report separately found that Rs 53.48 lakh had been charged to administrative expenses for items not allowed under the guidelines, including vehicle and generator repairs, civil works, furniture, crockery, refreshments and other office-related costs. The Department said it would enforce the rules in future.
Demand Driven Scheme Planned Without Demand Surveys
The CAG found that none of the 40 sampled Gram Panchayats conducted the mandatory annual door-to-door survey during 2019-24 to identify eligible households and update demand. Nor was the baseline survey conducted in the five districts to estimate how much work people would seek and when they would need it.
Labour budgets were prepared without the prescribed Gram Panchayat-wise assessment of demand and timing. In several years, sampled districts submitted their labour budgets only after the Union Government had already finalised J&K’s budget. Across the UT, 147.08 lakh person-days generated during 2020-21 to 2022-23 exceeded the number approved by the Centre, but revised approval was not obtained. In the five sampled districts, 69.18 lakh unapproved person-days led to payments of Rs 148.51 crore.
The Department said labour estimates were prepared from field data and past trends, and that minor variations were inherent in a demand-driven scheme. The CAG said the variations for 2020-23 had not been formally approved and that the absence of household surveys meant the reliability of demand projections could not be established.
None of the five sampled districts prepared the required multi-year District Perspective Plan. No District Level Technical Committee was constituted, no district-level information and education plan was available, and the UT did not establish the prescribed Human Resource Development and Capacity Building Division.
Rozgar Diwas, the monthly forum at which workers can apply for employment, receive information and raise grievances, was documented in only eight of the 40 sampled Gram Panchayats, all in Poonch. The Department said these events were held across J&K but acknowledged that records may not have been maintained. The CAG said no documents were produced for the other 32 panchayats.
The consequences showed in the beneficiary survey. Of 400 workers, 77 per cent did not know about unemployment allowance, 64 per cent did not know where to take a grievance, 89 per cent did not know a district Ombudsman existed, and 49 per cent were unaware of social audit. One-third did not know wages were due within 15 days.
Job Cards Widely Issued but Verification Incomplete
The audit recorded a 97 per cent registration rate: 13.37 lakh of 13.73 lakh applicant households had received job cards by March 2024. But only 10.68 lakh cards, or 80 per cent, had been verified, leaving 2.69 lakh unverified. In the five sampled districts, the verification shortfall was 22 per cent.
Of the 400 beneficiaries surveyed, 125 did not possess a physical job card. Among the 275 who did, 158 said they received it after the statutory 15-day period, six cards had no photograph, 109 had no work entry and 108 had no payment entry. The job-card application register was not maintained in any of the 40 sampled Gram Panchayats, preventing the audit from checking whether cards had been issued on time.
The Department said 1.42 lakh cards had been deleted after verification campaigns because of migration, deaths, delimitation and other legitimate reasons, but the CAG noted that 2.69 lakh cards remained unverified in March 2024.
Severe Staff Vacancies at the Field Level
At block level across J&K, 528 of 855 sanctioned MGNREGA posts were vacant in March 2024, a vacancy rate of 62 per cent. The shortage was 67 per cent for Programme Officers, 24 per cent for management information system operators and 94 per cent for accounts and administrative assistants.
Against the requirement of 858 Technical Assistants and 4,291 Gram Rozgar Sahayaks, the UT had 597 and 2,818 respectively, leaving shortages of 30 and 34 per cent. All 90 accounts and administrative assistant posts in the five sampled districts were vacant, while Programme Officer vacancies there stood at 70 per cent.
The Department said Block Development Officers had been designated as Programme Officers, 1,800 Panchayat Accounts Assistants had been recruited and proposals to hire more information-system operators, Technical Assistants and Gram Rozgar Sahayaks were under consideration.
Missing Muster Rolls and Measurement Books
The audit found that key documents supporting expenditure were missing in the sampled works. Physical muster rolls for skilled and semi-skilled labour were absent from 84 of 400 work files, even though Rs 24.72 lakh had been paid on the basis of entries in NREGASoft. Measurement books were absent from 266 work files, although payments of Rs 3.42 crore had been made.
The Department said payments could not be made without electronic muster rolls and asked for scheme-specific details. It later assured the audit that future payments would not be processed without certified measurement entries. The CAG said electronic entries did not replace the physical records required to verify payments.
Materials worth Rs 50.42 crore were procured by the 40 sampled Gram Panchayats without assessing block-level requirements, inviting aggregate tenders or establishing competitive rates. Material registers recording inward and outward movement were not maintained. The Department said panchayat vendors were selected by the Gram Sabha and registered on the information system, but the CAG said the prescribed competitive procurement process was still not followed.
The audit also identified Rs 18.68 lakh paid to vendors in 33 works without supporting vouchers, Rs 65.88 lakh paid in 105 works without contingent bills, and Rs 6.76 lakh spent on unapproved components in 18 works. It said 207 works costing Rs 314.97 lakh were executed without Gram Sabha approval.
In 47 works, the audit compared bills with electronic fund-transfer orders and found that Rs 61.26 lakh had been generated for 27,791 worker entries against Rs 42.70 lakh payable for 19,732. It classified the difference of Rs 18.56 lakh relating to 8,059 entries as inadmissible wage payments. The Department said it was highly unlikely that workers would be paid without execution of work; the CAG said the numerical discrepancy remained unexplained.
In another 43 works, the CAG found that 680 worker entries were short-paid by a combined Rs 1.60 lakh. The Department attributed deductions to attendance without completion of assigned work, but the audit said no supporting record was produced.
Worksite Welfare Provisions Almost Entirely Absent
No expenditure was incurred on drinking water, first aid, shade or childcare facilities in any of the 40 sampled Gram Panchayats. The Department said the need had not arisen and that facilities would be provided when required. The CAG said even basic drinking water and first-aid arrangements were mandatory.
The survey found that 205 of 400 beneficiaries did not have drinking water at worksites; all 400 said first aid and childcare were unavailable; and 399 said there was no shade. No women or persons with disabilities had been appointed as worksite mates in the sampled works.
Citizen Information Boards, which must disclose a project’s cost, labour, materials and expected benefits, were missing at 326 of the 400 inspected sites. The Department said boards were installed before work began but some were damaged by weather.
Physical Checks Found Missing and Nonfunctional Assets
Joint inspection produced some of the report’s most serious findings. Of 39 soak pits checked in Kupwara, only three were functional, 14 had no inlet connection and 22 could not be traced on the ground. The Department said inlet connections would be made after material payments were received. The CAG said the missing pits raised the possibility of fictitious execution, wasteful spending and misappropriation.
Two Amrit Sarovars in Poonch were nonfunctional because they had no water inlet and their walls had not been waterproofed. A community drain in Anantnag served only two houses and was not connected to drainage water. A road in Kupwara stopped short of both habitation and agricultural land. Two solid-waste sheds were nonfunctional because there was no system to collect and transport waste. Another drain in Poonch was blocked by a concrete stepped path.
The audit also found a second irrigation channel constructed beside an existing channel in Anantnag; an Amrit Sarovar and a harvest tank in Rajouri that were not visible as sanctioned on the ground; a link road that did not connect to a main road; a supposed public park site occupied by a graveyard; and an irrigation channel that officials could not locate.
Across the cited cases, the CAG said Rs 37.87 lakh had been spent without creating the intended durable infrastructure. It classified four works as non-existent and said Rs 5.81 lakh had been paid for them. Departmental replies cited hard rock, disputed alignments, land use by private persons, changed site conditions and funding shortages, and promised corrective action in several cases.
Anganwadi Centres and Waste Projects Stalled
The audit found that 104 of 144 Anganwadi Centre buildings taken up in four sampled districts between 2017 and 2024 remained incomplete after expenditure of Rs 242.29 lakh. The completion shortfall ranged from 54 per cent to 100 per cent. The Department cited land disputes, local problems and delayed funding and said work would resume in coordination with the ICDS authorities.
Across J&K, 56,765 compost pits, or 60 per cent of those taken up, remained incomplete after expenditure of Rs 21.52 crore. Another 1,76,845 soak pits, or 48 per cent, remained incomplete after expenditure of Rs 57.31 crore. The Department said many were physically complete but awaiting material payments and that remaining works would depend on funds and community demand.
Fourteen Bharat Nirman Rajiv Gandhi Sewa Kendras remained incomplete after expenditure of Rs 70.13 lakh, seven were dropped after Rs 24.71 lakh had been spent, and three completed centres were nonfunctional. The audit put the resulting unfruitful expenditure at Rs 111.07 lakh.
Oversight Bodies Were Missing or Inactive
The State Employment Guarantee Council held only one meeting during 2019-24 against the required 10. The Social Audit Unit took corrective action in 24,656 of 27,089 observations, a 91 per cent disposal rate, but 2,138 cases were classified as involving financial misappropriation and no FIR had been filed in any of them by March 2024. The Department said recoveries had been made in most financial cases and show-cause notices and warnings were issued.
No Vigilance and Monitoring Committees were constituted for concurrent social audit in the sampled blocks and panchayats. No State or District Quality Monitors were appointed, so no work received the prescribed independent quality inspection. J&K had only 12 Ombudsmen for 20 districts.
None of the seven mandatory MGNREGA registers was maintained in the 40 sampled Gram Panchayats. No complaint register was maintained at district, block or panchayat level in the sampled areas, and the Department had not prepared the required public-facing Citizen’s Charter.
The CAG also found large mismatches between financial data supplied by the Department and figures displayed on NREGASoft, as well as unexplained differences between closing and opening balances on the portal. The Department attributed these to old entries and technical reporting problems being addressed with the Union Ministry and the National Informatics Centre. The CAG said the Department remained responsible for the accuracy of information placed in the public domain.
The report recommended annual household surveys and job-card updates; realistic district and labour plans; regular Rozgar Diwas and public-awareness activity; timely release of funds and wages; payment of unemployment allowance and delayed-wage compensation; and stronger monitoring through quality monitors, Ombudsmen, Vigilance and Monitoring Committees, social audit and a Citizen’s Charter.
