Seeking payment of pending wages and other problems related to works taken up under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Act (MNREGA), members of the Grameena Krishi Kooli Karmikara Sanghatane have submitted a memorandum to the district administration.
A delegation of the organisation, led by president Rajappa Aladahalli and Gangadhar Badiger of the SUCI(C), visited the office of the chief executive officer of the Dharwad Zilla Panchayat on Saturday and submitted the memorandum.
The delegation members brought to the notice of the officials that the wages had not been credited to the bank accounts of job card holders even after three months. Consequently the job card holders, who had no other source of income, were facing hardships, they said.
They said the organisation also condemned caste-based payment system being implemented by the Union government. “When all the workers worked together to complete the work, why was it that people are being divided on the basis of caste while making payment of the wages,” they asked.
In the memorandum, they have demanded that the caste-based payment system and the practice of getting MNREGA works done using machinery should be abolished immediately.
Potable drinking water and first-aid facilities at the work site, increasing the person days to 200, release of long pending honorarium to the Kayaka Bandhu, and grievance redressal meetings for job card holders are some of the other demands mentioned in the memorandum.
