Condemning omission of Gandhi’s name from MGNREGA, a hunger strike launched
Visakhapatnam: Condemning the omission of Mahatma Gandhi’s name from National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, rechristening it and demanding the Centre to withdraw its decision with immediate effect, Congress Party leaders launched a hunger strike near the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) office Gandhi statue in the city on Sunday.
Opposing the rechristening of the scheme into ‘Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Aajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act’ introduced by the NDA government, Congress leaders and supporters, led by Visakhapatnam District Congress Committee president Addala Venkata Varma Raju (Hasini Varma) held a day-long hunger strike on Sunday. The hunger strike was launched after garlanding the Gandhi statue and staging a protest with tools used by farmers’ and labourers as a demonstration.
Speaking on the occasion, the DCC president stated that the name of Mahatma Gandhi should be retained in the scheme. Raising objection over the scheme’s allocation of funds in a 60:40 ratio, he opined that it would increase the burden on state governments. Also, the DCC president expressed concern that the state government might cut wages for employment guarantee workers and it would render many jobless in the process. As per the instructions of the All-India Congress Committee, he informed that the protests would continue until February 25th.
Youth Congress state president Lakkaraju Ramarao and Visakhapatnam east constituency in-charge Priyanka Dandi mentioned that the state had received approximately Rs.1 lakh crore so far through the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme since 2006. They said that 75 lakh farmers and labourers have benefited from the scheme. They questioned why Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and Deputy Chief Minister K Pawan Kalyan are remaining silent over the scheme renaming row.Priyanka dared BJP Andhra Pradesh president PVN Madhav to an open debate regarding the scheme, alleging that he is misleading the public by claiming that the revised scheme will be beneficial and meant for increased transparency. Congress Party leaders stated that the BJP government is undermining the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, which was introduced by the UPA government in 2006 under the leadership of the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with an aim to provide employment to millions of agricultural labourers in the country.
Displaying posters, CPI state executive members Pydiraju, Congress leaders Sodadasi Sudhakar, Kandava Gayatri, Gautam, constituency in-charges, and party workers participated in the protest
