All MGNREGA employees association pen down strike at block Batote.

Irfan Majid

Ramban, August,19:- MGNREGA employees Association of J&K union territory is on a pen-down strike from the last four days due to their long-pending demands related to regularization of vacant posts in Rural Development Department.

Today, Wednesday, all MGNREGA Employees Association observed a pen-down strike at Block Batote. Employees working under MGNREGA are waiting for the regularization for the last 10 years, and have been working without any job security. There are highly qualified youth working in RDD from the last thirteen years but till date neither any job policy has been framed nor any job security been provided by the government of J&K. The employees under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) have been demanding the government to enhance their basic salary, regularizing, and frame job policy for them. However, previous govts have only made tall promises to   MNREGA staff, and nothing concrete has been done so far for the enhancement or regularization and other genuine demands of the MNREGA, despite the fact the MNREGA staff has been working in extreme conditions, be it COVID 19, the staff has been working dedicatedly from last 13 years.

According to MGNREGA staff in 2018 there was a committee constituted vide Govt, order no 169RD &PR of 2018 Dated 7/7/2018, but the committee did not submit its report.  In this regard Rajeshwar Kumar Block Development chairman Batote said that all MGNREGA staff is on a pen-down strike till the 21st of August. Being the backbone of the Rural Development Department MGNREGA Association urged the J&K Govt to have a sympathetic approach towards the genuine issues of MNREGA and issue formal orders for regularization against available vacant vacancies in Rural Development Department.