Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, June 1: Demanding immediate release of dues of labour hired by the Rural Development Department under MGNREGA scheme, which has now surpassed over Rs 200 crores, a number of Panchayat members and MGNREGA workers today held a strong protest demonstration against the State Government.
Panchayat members from all districts of Jammu region participated in the protest, which was organized under the banner of All Jammu and Kashmir Panchayat Conference (AJKPC), led by its president Anil Sharma.
The protesters also staged a dharna outside Press Club Jammu and accused the State Government of being most corrupt regime in the history of Jammu and Kashmir. This is the reason that the State Government has not cleared the dues of the poor labourers who feed their family on meager amount of just Rs 145/ per day, they said and feared that there was every apprehension that the amount for MGNREGA workers had been misappropriated by the State Government.
Anil Sharma alleged that the Omar Government has made the Panchayati Raj System a mockery due to which the Panchayat members were helpless to do anything for the innocent daily wagers whose dues are not cleared by the RDD. The Government is violating provisions of the MGNREGA Act which calls for release of payment to the labor workers within 15 days in their bank accounts, he added.
The AJKPC president said that either Chief Minister Omar Abdullah is trying to mislead the people or he is himself ill-informed that is why now after receiving debacle in the Parliamentary elections he is seeking opinions of the people through email and other social media networking sites ignoring the fact that there is no electricity in the villages to use computer and internet.
Prominent amongst those who participated in the dharna, include Gautam Singh Jamwal, Raj Kumar, Madan Lal, Alam Choudhary, Saleem Mohammad, Raman Sharma, Avinash Devi, Veena Kumari, Jyoti, Krishan Chand, Ram Lal, Girdari Lal, Puran Chand, Joginder Singh, Harbachan Singh, and others.
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