AJKPC to begin week-long hunger strike from Dec 3 over MGNREGA liabilities

All Jammu Kashmir Panchayat Conference (AJKPC) on Tuesday announced that it will go on a hunger strike from December 3 against the "failure" of the government to clear Rs 1,000 crore liabilities under the Centre's flagship MGNREGA scheme.

"We had served an ultimatum of 15 days to the UT government for clearing the mounting liabilities of Rs 1,000 crore under the MGNREGA scheme. The poor labourers, including skilled and unskilled, have not been paid their meagre wages for years together," AJKPC president Anil Sharma told reporters here.

He said it was "highly unfortunate" that the government has become "insensitive" to the miseries of poor labourers.

"We, the elected Panchayat members, are left with no option but to adopt the path of agitation. We have decided to go on hunger strike from December 3 and it will continue till December 10 to bring the administration out of its slumber. I will lead the hunger strike to be observed 24x7 for 168 hours till December 10," Sharma said.

He alleged the successive governments of the erstwhile J and K state and now the UT administration have been violating the MGNREGA guidelines with regard to payment of wages to workers with "impunity".

"The MGNREGA guidelines suggest that workers should be paid their wages within 15 days of the work done but the situation is quite grim in J and K where the workers who executed works from 2015 to March 2019 have not been paid their wages till date. This is the worst example of human rights violation," said the leader of the AJKPC, which is a frontline body of elected panchayat members.

"The vendors who supplied material for development works and people who managed these works are also on roads because their families too are at the verge of starvation," Sharma said.

He also targeted the parliamentarians from J and K and Ladakh, alleging that none of them has bothered to speak on this sensitive issue relating to poor labourers till date.

"The prevailing scenario also belies the government's claims on implementation of the 73rd Amendment of Indian Constitution in J and K after abrogation of Article 370.

"If the 73rd Amendment has been implemented in letter and spirit, a separate finance commission and election commission for panchayats should have been put in place by now. The government should not test the patience of poor labourers and panchayat members," Sharma said.