Stating that they were not paid their wages for the last two months, workers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) staged a demonstration near the bus stand at Sathyamangalam here on Monday.
Workers under the banner, Bharatiya Khet Mazdoor Union (BKMU), affiliated to the Communist Party of India, said that though the scheme intends to provide 100 days of work a year, work was provided only for 40 days a year and pointed out the drop in allocation in the recent Union Budget. “It is nothing but a move to halt the implementation of the scheme”, they said. They said that workers in Sathyamangalam, Talavadi and Bhavanisagar blocks were not paid their wages for the last two months and wanted the dues to be settled at the earliest. They also wanted work to be provided continuously as the wages are their only source of livelihood.
Led by Sathyamangalam AITUC president Stalin Sivakumar, CPI North union secretary M. Surendar, south union secretary S.C. Natraj and others explained the cause of the protest and raised slogans. Likewise, demonstrations were held at Bhavanisagar and Talavadi in which over 500 workers took part.
