Punjab government’s big advocacy for employees who have served for 18 years, letter written to Shivraj Chauhan

Chandigarh:Punjab Rural Development and Panchayat Minister Tarunpreet Singh Saund today wrote a letter to Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan demanding regularization of MNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) employees under the recently launched VB-G Ram Ji (Developed India Guarantee for Employment and Livelihood Mission) scheme. He also appealed to make a nationwide policy to ensure job security of employees.

The minister said that the Bhagwant Mann government is standing shoulder to shoulder with more than 2100 MNREGA employees of Punjab. Questioning the decision of the Central Government to put the financial burden of the new scheme on the states and making the future of the employees uncertain, he demanded immediate release of the pending salaries. He said that the 18 years of service of the employees who have been dedicatedly implementing rural development programs for almost two decades cannot be ignored.

Questions raised on central government’s decision in press conference

Addressing the press conference held at Punjab Bhawan here today, Rural Development and Panchayat Minister Tarunpreet Singh Saund said, "This is a very sensitive issue. However, all the opposition parties including Congress, Akali Dal are trying to divert attention from this issue and mislead the people so that the entire blame can be put on the Punjab government. Therefore, it is necessary that the truth and facts are kept before the public."

He said, "The MNREGA scheme was started around the year 2005 under an Act, through which the objective of the Central Government was to provide employment to every family. This scheme has been in force in Punjab for about 18 years and through this, employment is being provided to rural people."

About 2,100 employees have been providing services for years

The Minister said that for the operation of this scheme, about 2000 to 2100 employees, which include Technical Assistants (TA), Village Employment Assistants (GRS) and Computer Operators, have been working under this scheme of the Central Government for the last 18 years.

Questioning this decision, Sond said, "The biggest question is how the hard work done by these employees in the last 18 years can be ended in one stroke. He worked for so many years under the Central Government Act and its scheme. Punjab government had no role in this scheme."

He said, "The salaries of these employees were completely paid by the Central Government because this was a 100% Central Government scheme. But instead of protecting their rights, the Center stopped the scheme, forcing around 2100 employees to agitate."

Employees’ objection to the new plan

The minister said, "The employees have made it clear that they do not want to work under the new scheme because despite serving for 18 years, they are not sure when they will be regularized. Their demand is completely justified."

Tarunpreet Singh Saund said, "I want to say with complete clarity that the Punjab government led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann, the entire cabinet and the entire government stands strongly with these 2100 employees working under MNREGA. We stand shoulder to shoulder with them. The central government has openly violated their democratic rights by closing the scheme after working with them for 18 years."

Letter written to Union Minister

He said with emphasis, "As Rural Development and Panchayat Minister of Punjab, I have written a letter to Union Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan. Through this letter, I have requested the Central Government to wake up and regularize these employees, respecting the rights of these employees who have been working for almost two decades, because they have dedicated 18 years of their lives for the Central Government scheme."

Major demands raised in the letter

In a letter sent to the Union Minister, the Punjab Government has said that the Government of India has suddenly discontinued the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) and implemented the Developed India-Employment and Livelihood Mission (Rural) scheme in its place from July 1. Under this new scheme, the central government has put the financial burden on all the state governments of the country.

Now the Government of India is forcing the hardworking employees working under MNREGA for the last two decades to continue working on contract basis under the new scheme. In my home state Punjab, these employees are on strike because their livelihood is in danger due to the closure of MNREGA.

The main reason for their agitation and strike is that more than 2100 contractual employees, including technical assistants, computer assistants and other employees, who have been serving for the last 18 years, are demanding that their services be regularized under the new scheme.

The Punjab government supports their just demand. It also requests you to include such a provision in the new scheme so that all these employees can be regularized. This is not only an issue of Punjab, but many employees across the country are facing the same situation.

We demand that the Central Government should provide permanent employment to these employees across the country. The Punjab government stands strongly with them in this regard.