NEW DELHI: Flagging that the MGNREGS wage rates for West Bengal have only been hiked by 5 per cent, TMC leader Saket Gokhale on Thursday said it is a brazen display of the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) "hate" for the state.
Referring to the wage notification for the flagship rural employment scheme issued by the Union rural development ministry, Gokhale said the wage hike for West Bengal is only 5 per cent, while it is more than 7 per cent for Bihar, over 9 per cent for Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, and more than 10 per cent for Andhra Pradesh.
"After withholding over Rs 7,000 crore of MGNREGA wage dues, the anti-Bengal BJP zamindars have again resorted to targeting the people of West Bengal by punishing them with a meagre 5 per cent wage hike while BJP states get as much as 10 per cent hike," the Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader said in a post on X.
"This is yet another brazen display of BJP's hate for Bengal -- something that will get a resounding response from the people in the upcoming elections," he added.
A notification on the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) wage rates was issued by the BJP-led Centre on Wednesday.
The wages under the scheme have been revised, with hikes ranging between 4 and 10 per cent for different states.
The wage for West Bengal has been increased to Rs 250 (a hike of Rs 13).
The TMC is the ruling party in the state.
The revised wage rates were notified by the rural development ministry after the Election Commission's (EC) clearance as the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) is in force for the Lok Sabha polls.
Meanwhile, the funds under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) for West Bengal have been stopped since March 9, 2022.
According the rural development ministry, the funds have been stopped in accordance with section 27 of the Act due to non-compliance of the Centre's directives.