JAIPUR: Nearly 10,000 MGNREGA contractual employees, who have been on strike for the past 25 days demanding regularisation of their posts, have decided to stage a demonstration at Saheed Smarak on May 30 and tender mass resignations to chief minister Ashok Gehlot on May 31. This decision came after the state’s rural development and panchayati raj department sought information from the districts about the number of showcause notices issued and contracts terminated of such employees.
“Instead of inviting us for talks, the government is threatening to terminate our talks. When we met the minister (rural development department minister Ramesh Chand Meena) last time, he told us that the state government can’t do anything about it as NREGA is a Centre-run scheme, and that the government of India was trying to put an end to the scheme. He also asked us to withdraw our strike,” said Mahatma Gandhi Nrega Karmik Sangh secretary Narendra Singh Rajpurohit.
In a letter to the district collectors, the MGNREGA commissioner Shivangi Swarnkar said the number of NREGA labourers engaged in work has gone down from 26.57 lakh last month (April) to 23.06 lakh at present. It also stated that due to the strike, labourers have been deprived of employment under NREGA.
