PATIALA: The villagers of Naruana village in
Nabha subdivision, Patiala are running pillar to post get their employment cards under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Gurantee Act (MGNREGA).
According to the villagers, the district administration in January 2017 approved as many as 160 employment cards and uploaded them on MGNREGA’s website.
“Since then we are waiting to get them. When we go to the district administrative officials, they tell us that they are waiting for some minister or his family members to come and distribute the cards,” the villagers said.
“It is obvious that politicians want to leverage this to build their vote bank. When we visited the district administrative officials, including DDPO, they said that they were waiting for the son of a ruling Congress minister from the area to disburse cards among the beneficiaries,” said Gurmeet Singh Thuhi, state president of Internationalist Democratic Platform.
Villages like Tambuan, Ghanurki, Dharonki and Pupplan too are sailing on the same boat. The villagers here are waiting for their cards so that they can
avail employment.
“Under the sections of MGNREGA, it is mandatory for a person, who is above 18 years old and a resident of a village with low income, to have a job card so as to avail 100 days employment that provides Rs 240 as
minimum wage. It is also mandatory to provide job cards within 15 days to the applicants,” said Gurmeet.
DDPO Nabha
Sukhwinder Singh Tiwana said, “The cards have been issued online, however, we are yet to disburse them. Sometimes the officials do not get time as these cards need to be signed. We will soon be distributing all the employment cards.”
