G RAM G propagation: Punjab defies Centre diktat, won’t hold gram sabhas today

A detailed comparison of the original and revamped scheme is being prepared by the Punjab department of rural development and panchayats. The offensive against the Centre will be launched by AAP government with a presser by the department minister Tarunpreet Singh Sond. After that the AAP government will take it to special session of Vidhan Sabha, being convened on December 30, and table a resolution against it.

“We are preparing a comparative report. We will take it to Vidhan Sabha first as we have convened a special session. We will certainly hold the gram sabhas but not on Friday. We will hold these at a later stage to make the residents of villages, dependent on MGNREGA for employment, that they have been cheated by the Centre. Why should we organise gram sabhas to make the new scheme look fancier. Our state will suffer,” said Sond.

Another Cabinet minister on anonymity said that the AAP had decided to launch an offensive against the scheme. “We are working on it. It will start soon. Just wait and watch how we take it to the masses.” He said Opposition Congress had already hit the roads but the AAP will not be left behind.

Most of the panchayats owe allegiance to ruling AAP in Punjab. The panchayat elections, held last year, were not conducted on party symbols. “Usually, the panchayats owe allegiance to the ruling party as they have to get the works done. So most of the Sarpanches have allegiance to AAP. It will not be difficult for us to carry the message against Centre through the panchayat,” said an AAP leader.

On December 22, Union Ministry of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj had written Demi-official letter to the chief secretaries of all states instructing them to hold special sessions of Gram Sabhas in all the villages of their respective states. They were asked to provide information about the facilities and rights available to the people under the new law.

The letter from the Ministry of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj to the chief secretaries clearly stated that the entire proceedings of the Gram Sabha should be uploaded in real-time. Geo-tagged photos and videos of the proceedings were mandatory. Active participation of villagers, especially women, labourers, and Scheduled Caste families, was also mandated.

AAP-led Punjab has been in confrontation with Centre on most of the occasions. The state had moved the Supreme Court last year against Centre not paying Rural Development Fund (RDF) worth Rs 12,000 crore. Recently, there were run ins between the state and centre on several issues regarding control of BBMB, Panjab University and Chandigarh also. All political parties active in the state, except BJP, have already criticised VB-G Ram G.

‘Cong will fight for restoration of MGNREGA’

Punjab Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring Thursday said his party will take the fight for the restoration of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) to every home of the state. Warring also challenged the AAP government in the state to come out with complete details of the workdays it provided during the last four years of its tenure under the MGNREGA.

“If the AAP has started believing that it can hide behind the BJP’s dictatorship of scrapping the MGNREGA, it is badly mistaken. We will expose the AAP as much as we will expose the BJP,” he said in a statement.

“The intentions of both the parties remain the same to deny the rural landless people opportunity of employment,” alleged the Ludhiana MP.

He said that his party would demand the AAP’s report card on MGNREGA in the Vidhan Sabha special session as also on the roads and streets across the state.

“AAP appears to be preparing to project itself as a party better than the BJP, but we will expose it on the floor of the House and outside and prove that they are two sides of the same coin,” he said.

The Punjab Congress president alleged that the AAP government’s record on MGNREGA, like all other welfare schemes, has been “abysmally dismal and disappointing”.