Shimla: The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) Sunday slammed the central government for not releasing adequate funds for Himachal Pradesh under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS).

The people, employed under MGNREG Act 2005 (MNREGA), have not been paid wages for six months as the central government has slashed its grants to the state by over 50 percent, CPI-M Member state secretariat Tikender Singh Panwar said in a statement.

The labour component amounting to more than Rs.70 crore is outstanding to the workers. The state was supposed to get an annual funding of Rs.670 crore but got only Rs.355 crores, he said.

This has severely affected the functioning of the rural job employment scheme especially in Mandi, Sirmaur, Una and Shimla districts, he added.

(IANS)