Punjab Threatens 2,000 MGNREGS Staff With Termination as July 18 Deadline Hits New Rural Jobs Scheme
Updated
Updated · The Indian Express · Jul 18
Punjab Threatens 2,000 MGNREGS Staff With Termination as July 18 Deadline Hits New Rural Jobs Scheme
2 articles · Updated · The Indian Express · Jul 18
Summary
Punjab ordered districts to terminate contracts of more than 2,000 striking MGNREGS employees if they do not sign fresh VB-G-RAM-G agreements and join duty by July 18.
The warning follows a July 1 switch from the scrapped MGNREGS to VB-G-RAM-G, where officials say the staff boycott is already disrupting rollout for about 26 lakh registered workers.
Districts were told they had ignored an earlier July 10 directive; the department circulated a draft termination order and said SRLM staff should temporarily handle muster rolls, monitoring and other scheme work.
Union leaders said workers, unpaid for more than five months and seeking regularisation after nearly 18 years, will keep striking and protest outside Minister Tarunpreet Singh Sond's house on July 20.
VB-G-RAM-G raises guaranteed rural employment to 125 days a year from 100, but its launch has quickly become entangled in a labor dispute over pay, job security and the transition from the old scheme.