Punjab E News: Pawan Kumar TinuStrongly condemning the weakening of the MANREGA Act by the Central Government, leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party stated that this new anti-labour policy of the BJP is a direct injustice to poor workers.
Cabinet Minister Shri Mohinder Bhagat (Defence Services Welfare, Freedom Fighters and Horticulture) said that weakening the MANREGA Act by the Central Government is equivalent to snatching bread from the mouths of poor workers of the country.
Pawan Kumar Tinu, Chairman, Punjab State Cooperative Agriculture Bank, strongly criticised the changes being made to MANREGA by the BJP-led Central Government and said that this new anti-worker policy is a well-planned conspiracy. He stated that the BJP government has renamed MANREGA as “V-B-G Ram-Ji Act” and that the decisions being taken under this new name are extremely dangerous. He further said that continuous cuts in the MANREGA budget are destroying the rural economy.
Pawan Kumar Tinu informed that earlier 100 percent of the MANREGA budget was provided by the Central Government, but it has now been divided in a 60:40 ratio. Now 60 percent will be given by the Centre and 40 percent by the State Governments. On this, Cabinet Minister Mohinder Bhagat questioned that when the States’ GST already goes to the Central Government, from where will the States arrange this 40 percent share?
District President, Jalandhar Urban, Amritpal Singh said that the Modi Government is indulging in the politics of renaming public welfare schemes to divert people’s attention from serious issues such as rising unemployment, inflation, and economic crisis.
G.P. Singh, State President, SC Wing, said that changing the name of an important employment scheme like MANREGA, which is linked to the livelihood of crores of poor families, is merely political showmanship, whereas the reality is that employment opportunities on the ground are continuously declining.
AAP leaders alleged that since the formation of the BJP Government, Punjab has been subjected to discriminatory treatment. Not only have Punjab’s rightful funds been withheld by the Central Government, but deliberate obstacles are also being created in the State’s development works. They said that the Central Government’s tall promises regarding employment for youth, women empowerment, and promotion of industries have not been fulfilled till date.
The protesters stated that the BJP Government wants to divert public attention from real issues through the politics of renaming schemes, but the Aam Aadmi Party will never allow such tactics to succeed. Party leaders made it clear that until Punjab gets its rightful share and the Central Government changes its anti-poor policies, the struggle of the Aam Aadmi Party will continue.
During the protest, Sandeep Saini (Doaba Incharge), Ramneek Singh Randhawa Chairman improvement trust and lok sabha incharge jalandhar Mayor Vineet Dhir, Balkar Singh (MLA, Kartarpur), Jarnail Nangal (Doaba Incharge, SC Wing), Nitin Kohli (Halka Incharge, Jalandhar Central), Rajwinder Kaur Thiara (Halka Incharge, Jalandhar Cantt), Dinesh Dhall (Halka Incharge, North), Principal Prem Kumar (Halka Incharge), Bahari Salmani (Chairman), Subhash Bhagat (Chairman, Phillaur), Balbir Singh Bittu (Senior Deputy Mayor), Malkit Singh (Deputy Mayor), Deepak Sharda (Councillor), Tarandeep Sunny (Doaba Media Incharge), Atam Parkash Singh (Doaba Media Secretary), Sanjeev Bhagat (District Media Incharge, Jalandhar), along with Indervansh Singh Chaddha, Shabnam Duggal, Ayub Duggal, Ricky Manocha, Dr. Amit, Vijay Bhatia, Jaskaran Singh, Shobha Bhagat, Sucha Singh, Gurpreet Kaur, Chahat Kaur, Poonam Bhagat, Kumkum, and a large number of leaders and workers of the MANREGA Workers’ Union were present.
