MGNREGA work disrupted; rural employment affected due to employees’ agitation

Lokmat News Network

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:

Various development works under the employment guarantee scheme have come to a standstill after contractual employees working under MGNREGA launched a work boycott agitation from January 27. The protest has raised concerns regarding employment opportunities for labourers in rural areas. A total of 210 employees from the district are participating in the agitation.

Ongoing works have remained incomplete due to the strike, leaving registered job card holders without employment. With summer approaching, works such as irrigation wells, roads, housing schemes, fruit plantation, farm access roads, cattle shed construction and other schemes under the agriculture department were expected to begin under MGNREGA. However, all such works have come to a halt and payments have been delayed since the contractual employees began their agitation on January 27. The rural employment system has been severely affected for the past 17 days.

What are the demands?

The contractual employees working under MGNREGA have demanded regularisation of their services under the government, immediate suspension of the alleged unauthorised recruitment process being conducted through S-2 Infotech company, implementation of the ‘equal pay for equal work’ policy, and creation of a separate administrative structure for the MGNREGA department with a defined cadre pattern similar to other departments.

Which employees are on strike?

Contractual officers and employees related to MGNREGA from the Mantralaya, divisional commissioner’s office, district collector’s office, Zilla Parishad, Tehsildar offices, Panchayat Samiti offices, and the agriculture and sericulture departments are participating in the agitation. These include state MIS coordinators, state technical coordinators, additional and assistant MIS coordinators, district MIS coordinators, programme managers, assistant programme officers, panel technical officers, clerks-cum-data entry operators and peons.

IDs to be issued from tomorrow

The agitation by contractual employees has affected employment guarantee works, and muster rolls are not operational. From tomorrow, the process of issuing IDs at the tehsil level will begin.

— Anupama Nandanvankar, deputy chief executive officer, EGS department