Bengal govt to pay dues of 21 lakh MGNREGA workers
On the second day of her two-day dharna in Kolkata to protest against the non-payment of dues for various schemes by the Union government, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced that the Bengal government would pay the amounts due to 21 lakh people for working as part of the rural jobs scheme, MGNREGA, something that should have been done by the Union government.
The money would be directly transferred to the bank accounts (as is the current practice in most states and of the Union government) of the workers by February 21, she announced.
She also said she would soon come out with another announcement regarding the unreleased funds for the Awas Yojana.
“The central government is thinking that they will starve Bengal to death. We will not allow them to succeed in that … Have faith in me… I will try to slowly clear those funds which are still stuck,” she assured from the dharna site at the site of the statue of BR Ambedkar on Red Road.
While leaving the site after her 48-hour stay, she said the protest will continue till February 13, and that party MLAs and other leaders would soon join the protest at there, and that she might also return.
