Uproar in RS as minister gives credit to Cong for NREGA wages

Opposition members on Tuesday created uproar in Rajya Sabha during Question Hour when Rural Development minister C P Joshi gave credit to Congress for giving Rs 100 as daily wages under National Rural Employment Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA).

Opposition members on Tuesday created uproar in Rajya Sabha during Question Hour when Rural Development minister C P Joshi gave credit to Congress for giving Rs 100 as daily wages under National Rural Employment Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA).

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Balbir Punj and Rudra Narayan Pany (BJP) and Brinda Karat (CPI-M) objected strongly when Joshi took the name of Congress while replying to a supplementary on NREGA implementation.

Asserting that many states pay more than Rs 100 as wages, Joshi said, "Congress party had announced that from April 1 this year, Rs 100 would be given as daily wages under NREGA".

As noisy scenes continued, Leader of the Opposition in Arun Jaitley said, "We expect some decorum from a cabinet minister. He is not a spokesman of a party but a representative of a party. Despite the Chairman saying that NREGA is a government scheme, he (Joshi) is speaking as if he is addressing a street meeting".

Venkaiah Naidu (BJP) sought that Joshi withdraw his comments.

Joshi said if Centre was giving Rs 100 as daily wage to job seekers under NREGA then states too should do so.

He accepted "mistakes" in disbursing wages under NREGA in many states, but said these have been rectified.

To a supplementary, he said, "Eight complaints have been received regarding irregularities in implementation of NREGA in Punjab so far by the ministry. These were forwarded to the state government for appropriate action, and action has been taken in six of these".