Covid-19: No hiring under MGNREGA for 3 months in Punjab

The countrywide lockdown following the Covid-19 outbreak has hit rural employment under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in Punjab.

The countrywide lockdown following the Covid-19 outbreak has hit rural employment under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in Punjab.

Workers under MNREGA are hired only for certain categories. A large number of vendors, rickshaw pullers and autorickshaw drivers and construction labour were free due to the lockdown have been employed in the mandis. (HT FILE)

With no fresh hiring from the last three months the number of workers in the state holds steady at 5.05 lakh.

The Punjab rural development and panchayats department official told Hindustan Times that he was not sure whether these workers would get the mandatory 100 days work in the current year.

According to Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, minister in charge of the department, the state government made efforts to get approvals from the Centre to allow hiring of MGNREGA workers as labourers in farms during the wheat harvesting season and in mandis to help in procurement and lifting.

“We were denied permission, so the agriculture and food and civil supplies department had to make alternative arrangements,” Bajwa said.

Workers under MGNREGA are hired only for certain categories.

“A large number of vendors, rickshaw pullers and autorickshaw drivers and construction labour were free due to the lockdown have been employed in the mandis,” said vijay Kalra, president of Punjab’s Arhtiya association.

Wheat, rice allocation under NFSA doubled

Meanwhile, after the Centre doubled allocation of wheat/rice under National Food Security Act (NFSA) on imposition of the countrywide lockdown in March, the Punjab government has stated distributing grain to 1.41 crore beneficiaries.

Each beneficiary under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY) was given 5 kg wheat/rice at subsidised rates of Rs 2 to Rs 3 per kg a month. For three months in advance, they will also get the same amount of grain free of cost. “Over and above the Centre’s allocation, the state government has allocated Rs 69 crore for free ration to 10 lakh people who don’t fall in the ambit of foodgrain under NFSA,” said KAP Sinha, principal secretary, food and civil supplies.