Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and other Congress leaders paid floral tributes to Mahatma Gandhi on his death anniversary here yesterday.
After paying homage, the Congress leaders observed a two-hour fast in front of Mahatma Gandhi’s statue against the renaming and dilution of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).
The Chief Minister said the BJP-led Union government had not only changed the name of MGNREGA but had undermined the very spirit of the scheme.
“The scheme earlier provided employment opportunities, especially to the youth and women in rural areas, but employment avenues are now being curtailed,” he said.
Sukhu said that previously village pradhans had the powers to undertake works such as road construction under MGNREGA, ensuring employment near people’s homes.
“During the COVID-19 pandemic, the scheme played a crucial role in providing maximum employment to the people.
However the powers of panchayat pradhans have now been taken away,” he said, adding that, for the past 20 years, MGNREGA had guaranteed employment and provided an unemployment allowance if work was not offered.
He said that today’s two-hour fast was organised to protest against the systematic dismantling of the scheme.
“Earlier the Union government used to bear 100 per cent of the expenditure under MGNREGA, but it has now been changed to a 90:10 funding pattern, which would adversely affect the interests of Himachal Pradesh,” he said.
AICC in-charge for Himachal Rajni Patil, Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri, and other Ministers and MLAs also participated in the fast.