The Left parties on Tuesday demanded that the district administration take up drought relief works in the district to help small and marginal farmers and agricultural labourers who are migrating to big cities in search of jobs in the wake of drought.
The leaders of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India, and the Socialist Unity Centre of India came in a procession to the Deputy Commissioners office and presented a memorandum demanding, among other things, a minimum of 200 days of employment under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA).
In the memorandum, the leaders said that the government should ensure timely payment of wages to those involved in the MNREGA works. They also sought adequate compensation to those who had lost crops in the rabi season last year and crop insurance amount to those who had lost their crops.
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Besides tackling the drinking water shortage effectively by supplying drinking water by tankers and other means, the government should also issue free bus passes to students in drought-hit areas and waive their fees for the coming academic year. The government should also provide free seeds, fertilizer and pesticides to farmers to take up work in the kharif season.