With the State reeling under drought, principal Opposition party-JMM, on Saturday, demanded that the government must take immediate relief measures and give compensation for the drought affected people in Jharkhand.
Addressing a press conference at the residence of the party Supermo Shibu Soren Executive president of JMM, Hemant Soren said, “Once again a woman died of starvation and the State government don’t have time to look after the pitiable condition of the people. The number of starvation death will increase in the coming days. The State government has accepted that the drought has damaged harshly and people have very less options for livelihood especially in rural area. ”
“A list of drought affected people should be made Block wise and the government should give them compensation. Condition is very bad in many areas of the State leading to incidents like starvation. The JMM is demanding job for every card holder of the State under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Act (MGNREA). With a proper plan the government is ending job opportunities and rural masses have no way other than get starved. A total of 45 lakh people have job cards, out of which 30 lakh card holders are active at present. A large numbers of jobs cards have been cancelled. Since 2014 around seven lakh cards have been cancelled,” he further said.
“If the government is not giving them compensation then it should pay them unemployment allowance. If the government not gives them within 15 days then the government should give them 25 per cent of the allowance and if the government is not paying them within thirty days then it should pay them 50 per cent of allowance,” he said.
Criticising the state government Soren said, “The government is not paying attention in rural areas.’’
With a view to strengthen party’s stand for upcoming general elections in 2019 the JMM had called a meeting of members of central committee including all MPs and MLAs. Speaking on the issue Soren said the party will start a special membership drive from December 10 to January 10. The party has aimed to add around 50 lakh more members during these period, he added.
When asked about the party’s stand on Kolebira Assembly bye election, Soren said, “There are a large numbers of party workers informed that they are not agree with the party’s stand but we have to think on broad perspective. The party is trying to defeat communal forces so that the party has not fielded its candidate in Kolebira.”