Workers belonging to the Vellore district unit of the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (SC Wing) staged a demonstration opposite the Head Post Office here on Tuesday protesting against the move of the Central Government to phase out the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS).
Notice
A notice issued by the SC wing of the Congress stated that the Bharatiya Janata Party which came to power on the promise that it would not withdraw the people’s welfare schemes implemented by the United Progressive Alliance government has in the last seven months initiated several steps to gradually phase out the MGNREGS and finally abolish the scheme.
The evidence of this move could be seen in the fact that the Central Government had spent only Rs.12,000 crores on the scheme till September 2014 out of the allotment of Rs.33,000 crores made by the UPA government for the scheme in 2014-15 while the Central Government ought to have spent a proportionate amount of Rs.17,000 crores till September 2014.
The notice further pointed out that the central government was taking steps to reduce the number of districts where the scheme is to be implemented from 625 to 200.
If the move materialises, the scheme would then be implemented only in 10 districts in Tamil Nadu as against 30.
The ratio of the percentage of amount to be used for purchase of materials and disbursement of salary from the allotted amount which was 27 per cent for materials and 73 per cent for salary is proposed to be changed as 51:49. This move would reduce the number of beneficiaries, it pointed out. The agitation by the Congress is to ensure that the MGNREGS is implemented without any change.
BJP has initiated steps to phase out MGNREGS scheme
Workers protested against the government's move
