Implement NREG in toto, farmers demand

Only Rs 350 crore utilised out of Rs 1,200 crore allotted for the scheme in the State

Speaking on the occasion the Sangha’s State unit President Maruthi Manpade said the implementation of this scheme will particularly help the poor and dailywagers. Unable to digest this, a few people’s representatives and land owners are opposing the scheme.
The wages that a dailywager gets under this Government scheme, they will not get from the land owners. Hence, they are suffering and that is why they are opposing its implementation, he alleged.
There is a economic crisis in the country. The agriculture sector is in a total mess. The dailywagers who are dependent only on agriculture have no work. Hence they are migrating to towns and cities in search of jobs, he said.
The Centre should create employment opportunities under this scheme and give proper wages to the dailywagers, urged Manpade.
If the poor ask for food, why should the people’s representatives feel threatened, he asked and said that to protest is their fundamental right and to demand for basic facilities by resorting to agitation is what they are committed to, he said.
However, it was not right on the part of the people’s representatives to pit one against the other and create confusion among the workers, he said taking them to task.

Warning

They should immediately stop interfering in the implementation of such schemes and in the Raitha Sangha programmes. Otherwise, dharnas will be staged in front of the residences of such people’s representatives, he warned.
If the people’s representatives were keen on implementing the NREG, they would have called for a meeting of Zilla Panchayat and implemented the scheme in an administrative manner. But even though the scheme has been implemented by the Centre, it has not been implemented properly in Kolar district. The State administration is responsible for this, he said.
Last year nearly Rs 1200 crore has been released under this scheme but only Rs 350 crore has been distributed. The remaining money is lying idle. This year nearly Rs 1300 crore has been released under this scheme and it is the responsibility of the State government to implement it in toto all over the State, he said.
Increase the dailywage
In 12 states in the country the dailywagers are paid between Rs 100-Rs 130 per day. But only in Karnataka the dailywagers are paid only Rs 82. For the same type of work there is difference in wages in different state. Why is this discrimination, he asked.
It was not right to harass the people who had lodged a stir to demand their rights. The money released by the Centre should be properly utilised by the Yeddyurappa government. Just as the Kerala government has waived the farmer’s private loans, the Karnataka government should also waive the loan, he demanded.
Under the NREG scheme, the daily wage of Rs 82 being given should be increased to Rs 150, he demanded.
Raitha Sangha leader J C Byya Reddy said the people’s representative should not play politics while implementing the NREG scheme. Everyone should fight in the interest of the poor, he added.
CPI (M) leader Gandhinagar Narayanswamy said it was not possible for the officials to make money under the NREG scheme. This is the reason why the officials are hesitating to implement the scheme in toto, he alleged.
Pro-people Women’s Association’s V Geetha said it was necessary to implement the scheme in toto. Prantha Raitha Sangha Taluk unit President Holuru Shanker and others also spoke. There was heated exchange of words between a few of the youth from the village who were opposing the implementation of the NREG and the Raitha Sangha workers. There was tight police bandobust. No untoward incident was reported.