Punjab Congress to launch statewide movement over MGNREGA issue from Jan 8

Ludhiana, Dec 29 (PTI) The Punjab Congress will launch a mass movement from Gurdaspur on January 8 across the state to save MGNREGA, state unit chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring said on Monday.

Speaking to reporters here, Warring said in the first phase, the party was holding press conferences across the state, to be followed by a mass movement.

The party has taken up the issue at the national level, he noted.

According to Warring, the Congress Working Committee held a special meeting on the matter and decided to launch a nationwide campaign against the government's move to scrap the scheme.

Warring said the BJP government has acted the same way as it did when it introduced three "black" farm laws, which it had to eventually withdraw in view of the farmers' protests.

He said the new scheme replacing the MGNREGA is also like a "black law".

The BJP was trying to "snatch" the livelihood of lakhs of rural poor and the marginalised by scrapping the MGNREGA, which had otherwise transformed the rural employment and economy, the Punjab Congress Committee president claimed.

He said the greatest difference between the MGNREGA and the new law -- Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin), is that the former guaranteed 100 days of work to the rural poor.

The Ludhiana MP said anyone could demand work as a matter of a constitutional right, which the government was bound to provide. But, now, the BJP has taken away that right of the poor and the downtrodden, he said.

He also criticised the ruling Aam Aadmi Party in the state for its "failure" to provide work under MGNREGA.

"The AAP government is trying to hide behind the new law of the BJP," Warring said.

The special session is just an "eyewash", as the AAP has "betrayed" the rural poor already by failing to provide 100 days of work under MGNREGA, he alleged.

The AAP-led Punjab government has said it will convene a special assembly session on December 30 to discuss the issue.

In Punjab, only 42 percent of work was provided under MGNREGA during the AAP rule, he claimed, adding that it was due to the "inefficiency" of the government, which "could not provide the 10 per cent matching grant to the 90 per cent grant provided by the Centre till now".

The Punjab Congress president said the new law will be more "devastating" for Punjab, as now, the state will have to provide 40 per cent share against the 10 per cent earlier.

"When the AAP government could not provide 10 per cent, how can it provide 40 per cent?" he asked, while asserting that the AAP cannot escape the responsibility of its own "failures" with its token resistance -- by holding a special session of the Vidhan Sabha. PTI COR CHS PRK PRK