MLC Kavitha slams BJP govt for slashing MGNREGS funds

She pointed out that union government did not create any new employment opportunities in rural areas and was not implementing existing schemes like MGNREGS

Hyderabad: MLC K Kavitha slammed the BJP government at the Centre over its attempts to weaken and eventually scrap the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), pushing the lives of the rural poor into jeopardy. She said the huge decrease in allocation of funds for the scheme in the latest union Budget indicates the Centre’s plans to discontinue it.

Speaking to mediapersons after a meeting with representatives of the MGNREGS Association here on Thursday, Kavitha said the union government allocated only Rs.60,000 crore for the MGNREGS, which was the lowest allocation for the scheme in the last five years. The BJP government has been reducing the funds for the scheme i.e. Rs 1.1 lakh crore in 2020-21, Rs 98,000 crore in 2021-22, to Rs 89,400 crore in 2022-23.

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“At least Rs 2.72 lakh crore is required for effective implementation of the MGNREGS this year. But the Centre allocated only Rs.60,000 crore which indicates the BJP government’s intentions,” the legislator said. She pointed out that the union government did not create any new employment opportunities in rural areas in the last nine years and was not implementing existing schemes like MGNREGS.

While the State government was trying to provide employment opportunities to people as much as possible, the Central government was not cooperating with the States, she said.