BRS launches postcard campaign against dilution of MGNREGS

Minister Errabelli Dayakar Rao posted a card in the postbox at Mohammadapuram village in Duggondi mandal in the district

Warangal: Protesting against the attempts of the Centre to dilute the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) on Saturday launched a postcard campaign. Panchayat Raj and Rural Development Minister Errabelli Dayakar Rao posted a card in the postbox at Mohammadapuram village in Duggondi mandal in the district, while the second postcard was posted by local MLA Peddi Sudarshan Reddy.

“The Centre is trying to weaken the MGNREGS. The budgetary allocation to the schemes was slashed by Rs 30,000 crore last year. As a result, working days of the employed labourers have come down. While the job card holder must be given Rs 257 per day as per the MGNREG Act, the wage is not exceeding Rs 100. Minimum infrastructure facilities like tents, fresh water, shovels, shovels and mats are not provided at work sites. According to the minimum wages act, a worker who works for eight hours should be paid Rs 480, but employment guarantee workers are not even getting minimum wages. Due to the online method, the people in rural forest areas are unable to follow the rules of uploading details of attendance online at 10 am and 4 pm due to lack of connectivity. Due to this the labourers are suffering,” the postcard reads.

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“Though the Telangana government passed a resolution in the Assembly to link the scheme to the agriculture sector, the Centre is not bothered about linking the same,” the Minister said, and demanded that the fixed tokens be given per acre with a minimum of 100 working days.

“The NREGS must be continued for the development of rural areas. The job security should be provided to all the employees starting from field assistants to APOs under the scheme,” he said.