The Assembly elections in Karnataka may be proving to be too much work for most of its stakeholders, including contesting candidates, political parties, grassroots party activists and even the bureaucratic apparatus. However, it seems to have snatched work from rural labourers who are largely dependent on works under the Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) for earning their daily bread.
Labourers across the State have complained that the officials,who are supposed to implement the Act, are denying work under the scheme on the pretext that they are busy with election duties.
Labourers from some gram panchayats even staged a demonstration outside the Kalaburagi Taluk Panchayat office recently to draw the attention of the higher-ups.
“The PDO of Kinni Sultanpur Gram Panchayat in Aland taluk is not coming to office ever since the elections are declared. He operates from a lodge in Aland town. When we contacted him, he said he cannot start MNREGA work as he was busy with the election work,” a labourer told The Hindu .
The labourers at Shankarawadi village in Malagatti Gram Panchayat, Chittapur taluk, have been trying to get work under the job scheme for the last couple of weeks, but in vain. They got work for 15 days in March, but the works were not provided in April. The PDO’s reply is almost similar.
Workers in Gudur in Afzalpur taluk, Kalaburagi district; Mannyakote in Chellakere taluk, Chitradurga district; Neelgunda in Harapanahalli taluk, Ballari district, and Talmari in Raichur district have similar stories to narrate. “We have applied for work in the second week of February. But, we were not provided with work. We have applied for unemployment allowances as guaranteed in the MNREGA. Now officials are denying work in the new financial year on the excuse of elections,” Nizamuddin, an MNREGA labourer from Talmari village in Raichur district, told The Hindu .
He added that many labourers from his village have started migrating to big cities such as Bengaluru in search of work. “Officials cannot deny work under MNREGA on the pretext of elections. Denying work under the job scheme may put them behind the bars,” K. Neela, vice-president of the Janvadi Mahila Sanghatan, said.
“Wherever rural labourers are organised, they are not denied work. We can see labourers fighting with officials and getting work in the villages where our organisation is active,” Abhay Kumar, a leader of Grameen Coolikarara Sanghatane, told The Hindu .
Hephsiba Rani Korlapati, Chief Executive Officer of the Kalaburagi Zilla Panchayat, however, denied the allegations.
“There is no question of denial of works under the MNREGA. In fact, we are doing voter awareness activities among rural labourers at MNREGA worksites. It is true that officers are busy in election work but they are simultaneously working to implement the job scheme. I have reviewed MNREGA works twice in the last 10 days and directed all the officers to ensure that MNREGA works continue,” she told The Hindu , and added that she would look into the specific cases where work under the job schemes was denied.
