Modi Govt Cannot Abandon Thousands of MGNREGA Employees After 18 Years of Service: Tarunpreet Singh Sond
Punjab E News (18th July 2026): Punjab Rural Development and Panchayat Minister Tarunpreet Singh Sond on Saturday wrote to Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan seeking the regularisation of MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) employees under the newly introduced VB-G RAM G (Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission) scheme and urging the Centre to formulate a uniform national policy guaranteeing their job security.
Reaffirming that the Bhagwant Mann Government stands firmly with over 2,100 MGNREGA employees in Punjab, the Minister questioned the Centre’s decision to shift the financial burden of the new scheme onto states while leaving employees’ future uncertain, demanded the immediate release of pending salaries, and asserted that employees who have strengthened rural development programmes for nearly two decades cannot be abandoned after 18 years of service.
Addressing a press conference on Saturday at Punjab Bhawan, Punjab Rural Development and Panchayat Minister Tarunpreet Singh Sond said, “This is a very sensitive issue, and it is entirely related to the BJP-led Central Government. However, all the opposition parties, whether it is the Congress, the Akali Dal or the BJP in Punjab, are trying to divert the issue and mislead people so that the entire matter is blamed on the Punjab Government. It is very important that the truth and the facts are placed before the people.”
The Rural Development and Panchayat Minister said, “The MGNREGA scheme was introduced in India around 2005 under an Act through which the Central Government was to provide employment to every household. The scheme has been implemented in Punjab for nearly 18 years, and employment has been provided to people in villages under this Act.”
The Minister said, “To provide employment under this scheme, around 2,000 to 2,100 employees, including Technical Assistants (TAs), Gram Rozgar Sahayaks (GRSs) and Computer Operators, have been working under this completely Central Government scheme for the last 18 years.”
He said, “Instead of taking care of these employees and regularising their services, not only in Punjab but across the country, the BJP-led Central Government discontinued the existing MGNREGA scheme and announced that a new scheme would come into force from July 1.”
Raising questions over the decision, Tarunpreet Singh Sond said, “The biggest question is how the hard work put in by these employees over the last 18 years can be wiped out in a single moment. They worked under a Central Government Act and a Central Government scheme for all these years. The Punjab Government had no role whatsoever in this scheme.”
The Minister said, “The salaries of these employees were paid entirely by the Central Government because it was a 100 percent Central Government scheme. But instead of protecting their rights, the Centre discontinued the scheme, forcing nearly 2,100 employees to sit in protest.”
He pointed out, “The employees have made it clear that they do not want to shift to the new scheme because after serving for 18 years, they have no certainty about when they will be regularised. Their demand is justified.”
Minister Tarunpreet Singh Sond said, “I want to make it absolutely clear that the Punjab Government, under the leadership of CM Bhagwant Singh Mann, the entire Council of Ministers and the whole government stand firmly with these 2,100 employees who have been working under the Central Government’s MGNREGA scheme. We stand shoulder to shoulder with them. The Centre has openly violated their democratic rights by making them work for 18 years and then discontinuing the scheme.”
The Minister asserted, “As Punjab’s Rural Development and Panchayat Minister, I have written to Union Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. Through this letter, I want to tell the Central Government that it should wake up, recognise the rights of these employees and regularise them after the years they have devoted to a Central Government scheme.”
*Rural Development & Panchayat Minister Tarunpreet Singh Sond Writes to Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan*
The Government of India has abruptly discontinued the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and, in its place, launched the Viksit Bharat – Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) scheme on July 1. Under this new scheme, the financial burden has been shifted by the Union Government to all the State Governments across the country.
The hardworking employees who have been serving under MGNREGA for the past two decades have now been compelled by the Government of India to continue under the new scheme on a contractual basis. In my home state of Punjab, these employees are on strike as the discontinuation of MGNREGA by the Government of India has put their livelihoods at risk.
The primary reason behind their protest and strike is that more than 2,100 contractual employees, including Technical Assistants, Computer Assistants and others, who have been serving for the last 18 years, are demanding that their services be regularised under the new scheme.
The Punjab Government supports their demand. At the same time, it urges you to make a provision under the new scheme for the regularisation of all these employees. This is not an issue confined to Punjab alone. Employees across the country are facing the same situation.
We demand that the Union Government provide permanent employment to these employees across the country. The Punjab Government stands firmly with them in this regard.
