MGNREGA workers hold protest against sarpanch in Ludhiana

Protesters accuse Lalheri village sarpanch Didar Singh of abusing and thrashing them for no reason

Labourers, engaged under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), staged a protest on the National Highway near the block development and panchayat office (BDPO) at the Malerkotla Chowk in Khanna on Monday alleging that the sarpanch of Lalheri village is not fair in engaging workers. They also accused the sarpanch of misbehaving with labourers.

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The protesters shouted slogans against the sarpanch and blocked traffic on the highway for at least 30 minutes, before the police reached the spot and pacified them.

Ram Partap, a protester, accused sarpanch Didar Singh of abusing labourers and thrashing them for no reason.

Another protester, Nirmala Rani, said when she went to the sarpanch demanding employment under the MGNREGA, the accused refused to give her work and also abused her.

Sarpanch Didar Singh refuted the allegations and said that his rivals are provoking labourers against him over political rivalry. He added he had paid Rs 1.9 lakh to labourers during lockdown under MGNREGA.