The Trinamool Congress will also send letters to Union Panchayati Raj Minister Giriraj Singh.
Calcutta:
The Trinamool Congress will send over 50 lakh letters from people who have been denied MGNREGA benefits in West Bengal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, ahead of the party’s much-hyped protests in New Delhi next month against the alleged withholding of money by the Centre.
The party has accused the BJP-led NDA government of withholding Rs 15,000 crore in dues from Bengal under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and Gramin Awas Yojana.
The party will also send letters to Union Panchayati Raj Minister Giriraj Singh.
“West Bengal stands united against the central government’s injustice, determined to claim what is rightfully ours. People power reigns supreme in democracy,” TMC National General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee said on X, formerly Twitter.
“The people of Bengal are raising their voices against “injustice” and those affected have written letters to the Prime Minister, asking for their rightful contribution,” the party said on its microblogging site.
“We have people who are yet to receive their dues even after working under the MGNREGA to write these letters. So far, we have collected more than 50 lakh letters. All of them have requested the release of dues to Bengal among rural jobs. We are sending these letters to the offices of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Minister Giriraj Singh,” a senior TMC leader said.
Party National General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee and TMC MPs, MLAs and district leaders will pay their respects to Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat in the national capital on October 2, on his birth anniversary.
Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, who was scheduled to attend the program in New Delhi, might not go there as doctors advised her to rest for 10 days after sustaining an injury to her left knee during a recent trip to Spain and Dubai. .
A TMC delegation will meet Singh on October 3 and put to him the issue of “non-release of dues” under the MGNREGA, Bengal Minister Chandrima Bhattacharya had said on September 23.
The TMC had planned to stage protests in New Delhi against dues under the rural employment scheme for Bengal.
The ruling party in the state had alleged that despite several requests to the Delhi Police, it was denied permission to hold demonstrations in the national capital.
The TMC had said on August 30 that it had been denied permission to hold demonstrations in New Delhi because the BJP-led Union government wanted to “destroy the voice of Bengal”, an accusation that the saffron camp termed as “baseless” labeled.
During TMC’s Martyrs’ Day rally on July 21, Abhishek Banerjee had announced that the party would launch a massive protest on Gandhi Jayanti on October 2 in Delhi against the central government’s alleged blocking of funds for Bengal under the MGNREGA and other schemes.
The Chief Minister staged a two-day sit-in in March this year against the Centre’s alleged move to “not release funds” to the state for MGNREGA and other welfare schemes.
The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005 aims to enhance the livelihood of households in rural areas by providing at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in a financial year.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
