Minister Tarunpreet Singh Saund.
Inderpreet Singh, Chandigarh. Punjab will appeal to the ministers of all the states to oppose the introduction of Ji Ram Ji Act in place of MNREGA. Will also call for organizing a joint meeting in Punjab. Punjab Rural Development and Panchayat Minister Tarunpreet Singh Saund has said that he is writing a letter to all the rural development ministers of the country in this regard tomorrow and warning them how harmful the new law is. Whose biggest impact will be on the Scheduled Caste class and the poor class who earn their living by working only for 100 days.
Tarunpreet Singh Saund, while presenting a comparative study of MNREGA and Ji Ram Ji, said that this is a very dangerous law for the states. Just as the central government had brought three black laws in the matter of farming, now it has brought another black law in the matter of labour. He said that Punjab is the first state which has not only opposed it, but will also call a special session of the Assembly on December 30 and pass a resolution against it.
We are also thinking of fighting this politically and uniting all the states against the central government to oppose this black law.
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Letters will be written to rural development and panchayat ministers of the states
Tarunpreet said that he will write a letter to the Rural Development and Panchayat Ministers of all the states on this matter tomorrow itself and will tell them how much loss his state is going to suffer due to this new law. Where there was 100 days employment guarantee in MNREGA, 125 days guarantee has been given in Ji Ram Ji. But, till now the national average has come to only 45 days.
He said that while in the old law the beneficiary could demand work, in the new law the central government will only allocate funds to the states and after that no money will be given. If the states want to provide additional work, they will have to bear this financial burden also. Whereas, there were no restrictions in NREGA, one could work as much as he wanted and take money.
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Punjab will have to bear 40 percent burden
He said that in the old scheme, where 100% of the wages were given by the Central Government and 75% of the material was given, now both will be given in the ratio of 60:40. It is clear that on bearing the burden of 40%, a state like Punjab alone will suffer a loss of Rs 600 crore. Apart from this, the Central Government has also reduced the availability of work by 60 days. He said that in the old law, there was a provision of giving unemployment allowance if the beneficiary did not get work, but in the new law it has been abolished. He said that the Center has taken over the work of tax collection and has put the entire burden of expenditure on the states.
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