VIJAYAWADA: YSRCP Panchayat Raj Wing State president Vennapusa Ravindra Reddy strongly criticised Deputy Chief Minister (Panchayat Raj and Rural Development) Pawan Kalyan for celebrating the National Panchayat Raj Day while over 11 weeks of MGNREGA wages remain unpaid to workers. He questioned how poor labourers, especially in drought-hit regions like Rayalaseema and North Coastal Andhra, are expected to celebrate when they haven’t received their rightful earnings since February 6.
Despite Pemmasani Chandrasekhar being the Union Minister of State for Rural Development, the NDA coalition government in the State has failed to clear wage dues, pushing lakhs of workers into migration, he alleged.
Ravindra Reddy accused TDP leaders of massive corruption in the appointment of Mates under the employment scheme, collecting bribes of up to Rs 15 lakh per post, and drawing fake wages using forged signatures, while genuine workers are ignored. With no new jobs initiated from April 1, and old bills still remain unpaid, the State’s 47 lakh active job card holders are left in distress. The Ombudsman system, meant to check corruption in MGNREGA, has been defunct for nine months, and even pro-TDP media has raised concern in this regard, he said.