NEW DELHI,Aug. 29: The National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) could hit a block if the funds from the finance ministry do not come in time. The rural development ministry has demanded a supplementary allowance of Rs 8,000 crores to take the programme forward till this November. "We have written to the finance ministry twice, the latest letter was sent 20 days back. We are waiting for a reply. We hope to receive the funds soon," Union rural development minister Raghuvansh Prasad said on Friday. Addressing report-ers after a two-day performance review meeting he said the Central allocation for the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme this financial year was Rs 16,000 crores of which Rs 14,333 crores had already been released to states by July this year. "Apart from the Rs 1,600 crores pending, we have asked for Rs 8,000 crores to continue the scheme till the end of this year," he said. With the Monsoon Session of Parliament being scheduled in October, further funds seem likely to be delayed. The minister has asked all states to make payments to workers only through banks and post offices to weed out corruption in the scheme. "We have set a deadline that beyond September 2008 no cash payment should be made. All states have agreed to comply with the deadline," the minister said. Mr Prasad also announced that all NREGS beneficiaries would be covered under the Janshree Bima Yojna (JBY) for life insurance. Under the scheme a family could get Rs 30,000 at the death of the beneficiary.