<span style="color: #222222;">Congress leader Sonia Gandhi today raised concerns regarding recurrent reduction in budget allocation to Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA). During Zero Hour in the Lok Sabha, she said, this has resulted in lower work opportunities and deprivation of timely payments to the workers.<br />''<br />''She said the budget allocation this year to MNREGA is 35 percent lower compared to the previous year even as unemployment is on the rise. Ms Gandhi said that as on March 26, several states have put forth negative balances in their MNREGA accounts. She added that records stated that 5,000 crore rupees is due to workers under the scheme.<br />''<br />''Ms Gandhi urged the government to allocate adequate budget to the scheme, timely payments to workers within 15 days and provide compensation for late payments.</span><br />