Cong MP slams Govt over MGNREGA

Congress MP Imran Pratapgarhi on Thursday said villages across the country were facing distress and accused the Union government of putting labourers in a “bad situation” by ending the rural employment guarantee scheme MGNREGA.

Participating in a discussion on the working of the Ministry of Rural Development in Rajya Sabha, Pratapgarhi said villages once symbolised harmony but the situation has deteriorated.

“Villages were about love earlier. Today, the environment of villages has been vitiated and people cannot even sit together...” he said.

 “Workers are in a bad situation. Instead of promoting MGNREGA, you are ending it by putting the burden on states... You think you can hide behind a name change,” he said. The Viksit Bharat- Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission Act (VB-G RAM G) is set to replace the two-decade-old UPA-era rural employment scheme - the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).

Pratapgarhi said road conditions in villages were so poor that “if a pregnant woman has to be taken to a hospital, perhaps she may not even reach the hospital”.

He also alleged that houses built under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) were being demolished by state authorities in some places and questioned the government’s vision for villages. “We dreamt of ending migration, but villages are even deprived of basic facilities, so people are running to cities,” he said.