May 6, 2026 · 2:00 PM
The Ministry of Rural Development has acknowledged the delay in a parliamentary question response, attributing it to 'state-level fund flow issues.' Bihar has the worst record — 61-day average delay for 18 lakh workers.
May 5, 2026 · 9:00 AM
Three civil society organisations have filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking contempt action against state governments for violating the 15-day payment mandate under the MGNREGA Act.
The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act mandates that wages be paid within 15 days of work completion. An RTI analysis by NT, covering MIS data from the Ministry of Rural Development, shows that 2.4 crore workers across Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, and Assam have waited more than 47 days — more than three times the legal limit — for payment for work already completed and verified.
State-by-State: Who Is Failing Workers the Most
NREGA Wage Delay — State-wise Data (May 2026)
- Bihar: 61-day average delay — 18 lakh workers unpaid
- Uttar Pradesh: 54-day average delay — 41 lakh workers unpaid
- Jharkhand: 52-day average delay — 9 lakh workers unpaid
- Odisha: 49-day average delay — 14 lakh workers unpaid
- Legal mandate: wages within 15 days; delay penalty ₹0.05/day per worker
- Penalty actually recovered from states in FY2025: ₹0 (MoRD data)
“I dug a pond for 14 days. The muster roll was submitted. The work was measured. It has been 53 days and I have received nothing. I borrowed money from a moneylender to feed my family. The interest is eating me.”
— Kamla Devi, NREGA worker, Gaya district, Bihar
The Legal Mandate and Why It Is Never Enforced
Section 3(3) of the MGNREGA provides that wages not paid within 15 days attract a compensation of 0.05% of the unpaid amount per day — payable to the worker. In practice, this compensation has never been recovered from a defaulting state and paid to workers at scale. NT's RTI responses from MoRD show that total compensation paid to workers under this provision in FY2025 was zero across all 9 defaulting states. The Ministry's position is that 'fund flow delays at state level' are outside its direct control — a position that legal experts say contradicts the Act's intent.
2.4Cr
Workers unpaid
47+ days
Average delay
15 days
Legal payment mandate
9 states
Defaulting states
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Deepak Rao
Ground Correspondent
Deepak is a field journalist covering agriculture, rural economy and civic rights. Based in Bhopal.