NREGS is saviour of poor, remove budgetary limit on it, says Congress

NEW DELHI: Congress on Monday asked the Centre to remove budgetary limit on MGNREGS and make it open-ended for the period of coronavirus pandemic as party chief Sonia Gandhi wrote media columns to highlighting the importance of the job scheme that has emerged as a saviour for the rural poor.
AICC spokesman Abhishek Singhvi said the BJP regime should remove the budget ceiling on the scheme so that it does not come in the way as eight crore migrants relocating to villages push up the demand under the scheme to record levels. He also demanded that number of days of work allowed per household under MGNREGS should be doubled from 100 to 200.
In her media article, Sonia Gandhi said the job scheme had proved that it was a lifeline for the poor in times of distress while recalling that PM Modi had ridiculed MGNREGS in Parliament as "a living monument of your (Congress's) failure".
"My plea to the government is, this is a time of national crisis, not a time to play politics. This is not a BJP versus Congress issue. You have a powerful mechanism at hand, please use it to help the people of India in their time of need," Sonia Gandhi wrote.
Full report on www.toi.in