MGNREGA workers protest administrative negligence by hanging memorandum on tree in Patiala

PATIALA: Disgruntled over administrative and political indifference, hundreds of MGNREGA workers demonstrated at the Patiala DC office under the leadership of the Democratic NREGA Front on Friday. When they were purportedly ignored, they opted to hang their demands on the tree outside the Patiala DC office.
The workers asserted that they lodged hundreds of applications highlighting corruption and violation of the NREGA Act in September last year to the district administration. The officials assured them they would address each application by November 5, but it remains delayed until now.
State President of the Democratic MNREGA Front, Raj Kumar, contended that due to these unchecked violations, no safety arrangements exist on project sites. A woman worker was crushed under a train a fortnight ago whilst 30 other workers fled to avoid death.
Kulwinder Kaur, District President of the front, stated that apart from safety measures, their September complaints included substantiated information about fraudulent projects like levelling already levelled lands, instances of bogus attendance, workers not receiving project allotment letters, and unlawfully being deployed in service of officials. There was also non-registration of work demand on the MNREGA portal and numerous other issues. Not a single application has been addressed, whereas the act stipulates grievance redressal within seven days or face action under section 25 of the MGNREGA Act.
"Today, we demanded a meeting with the panchayat minister, but this govt has no time for common people," said Kulwinder Kaur. They resolved to write a letter to the chief minister and hang it on the tree at the DC office. In the letter, workers enumerated the serious accidents and ailments which allegedly occurred on project sites due to official negligence and also attached the complaints submitted to the DC in September last year.