‘Create awareness on Centre’s deprivation of wages for 100 days’ work’

Kolkata: Trinamool Congress (TMC) chairperson Mamata Banerjee has instructed district party leaders to reach out to people at the grassroots level and create awareness of the Centre’s deprivation of the state in payment of wages for 100 days’ work in Bengal.

A senior TMC leader of East Midnapore said Banerjee, before leaving for Kolkata on Thursday, had asked them to reach out to people’s doorsteps and apprise them of the step-motherly attitude of the Centre in payment of wages for 100 days’ work.

“The directions of our chairperson are applicable for party leaders across the state and are extremely significant as the date for Panchayat elections is likely to be announced soon,” the senior leader said.

Banerjee was on a four-day tour to Khejuri and Digha where she held a distribution programme and booth-level workers’ meeting. She also visited the under-construction Jagannath Temple at Digha and inaugurated the Digha Press Club.

According to sources, the Central government owes over Rs 7,000 crore under the 100 days of work scheme although the state had topped the same segment on more than one occasion.

A delegation of TMC MPs, led by the party’s national general secretary and Diamond Harbour MP Abhishek Banerjee, submitted a memorandum to the office of Giriraj Singh, Union minister of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj on Wednesday, demanding revocation of Section 27 of the MGNREGA Act and release of funds that the Centre owes to Bengal.

The memorandum addressed to the Union minister, signed by the TMC MPs, stated that it was almost a year ago that Banerjee wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting clearance of outstanding dues to Bengal under various Central schemes. Following that, several letters were sent by TMC requesting the same but to date, funds have not been disbursed to Bengal.

The memorandum also highlighted that as of April 2023, the dues owed to Bengal under various schemes such as MGNREGA, PMGSY, PMAY, and NSAP stand at approximately Rs 12,300 crore.