MGNREGA workers stage protest in Nabha over pending demands; traffic hit

Patiala, October 6

Several Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) workers took out a protest march to the office of the SDM in Nabha today, accusing officials of not acting on the complaints they had filed with the Block Development and Panchayat Officer (BDPO).

One of the workers said, “The officials in Nabha have failed to provide us enough work as per the Act. If we are not assigned work, we are entitled to an unemployment allowance. But we have not even received any kind of relief.”

The workers’ protest led to snarl-ups. Some leaders of the Democratic MGNREGA Front said they had been persistently pushing for their demand for a proper implementation of the MGNREGA Act, but the officials had failed to address their concerns. “We are demanding work as per the law. But the government officials have not been heeding our pleas,” one of them lamented.

The workers stated they had submitted multiple complaints to the office of the Nabha BDPO in this regard, but to no avail. One of the protesters warned that if the government continued to turn a deaf ear to their demands, the only recourse left to them would be to intensify the stir.

Want implementation of MGNREGA Act

• The protesters accused the SDM of not acting on the complaints they had filed with the Block Development and Panchayat Officer (BDPO)
• The workers’ protest led to snarl-ups. Some leaders of the Democratic MGNREGA Front said they had been persistently pushing for their demand for a proper implementation of the MGNREGA Act
• The workers stated they had submitted multiple complaints to the office of the Nabha BDPO in this regard, but to no avail
• A protester said the government continued to turn a deaf ear to their demands