Chandigarh. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Punjab has launched a campaign to raise the voice and demands of more than 10 lakh MNREGA labor families in the state. AAP MLAs reached the special session of the Assembly carrying letters written by MNREGA workers. These letters describe the pain and struggles of hardworking families who earn their living by working under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGA). The state government led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has not limited itself to presenting these letters in the Assembly, but has also resolved to send them directly to the Prime Minister.
Its objective is to make the Central Government aware of the real condition of the workers and demand immediate solution to their problems.
MNREGA workers are facing many serious problems in Punjab. The biggest problem is the delay in payment of wages, which badly affects the livelihood of poor families.
Moreover, many laborers do not get work on time, forcing them to face unemployment. The state government alleges that due to non-timely release of MNREGA funds by the Central Government, the implementation of the scheme becomes weak and the workers suffer huge losses.
Finance Minister Harpal Cheema, while speaking in the House on Tuesday, attacked the Central Government and said that the Central Government is systematically dismantling the MNREGA scheme and depriving the poor of their right to livelihood.
Speaking in support of a motion against the recent changes made in the MNREGA scheme and changing its name to ‘Vikas Bharat-Ji Ram Ji’, Cheema described the move as an attack on the stomach of the marginalized people.
During this, he read a heart-touching letter from a female laborer named Charanjit Kaur, in which the apprehensions of thousands of rural laborers were highlighted. Their letter expressed concern that the change in rules and centralized village lists would deprive children of education and the elderly of medicines.
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