As the Gujarat government celebrates the completion of five years in the office by Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel, independent MLA Jignesh Mevani has hit out at the government for its alleged failure to pay Rs 212 crore of dues to NREGA workers in the state.
Mevani, an independent MLA from Vadgam, said the state government had not paid workers their dues for over two and half months, at a time when when unemployment is high and as people work in extreme conditions just to make ends meet.
He told THE WEEK that as per the rule, the money has to be given in 15 days. If not given, then 0.05 per cent interest has to be paid, he claimed.
The lawmaker alleged that the Central Government has not released the grant and hence the payment to more than one lakh workers, belonging to scheduled tribe and scheduled caste and, downtrodden, has not been given.
Mevani said that when Narendra Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat, he often spoke of the “discrimination” of the Centre towards Gujarat. “Now, the BJP is in power both at the Centre and in Gujarat,” he said.
He asked if the money was used by the Gujarat Government for some other work.
He claimed that he was quoting the numbers based on the state government’s website and that he first got to know that Rs 1 crore was not paid to the workers in Vadgam. “On probing further, I got to know that Rs 212 crore has not been paid,” he pointed out, adding that out of which Rs 128 crore have not been paid in the tribal belt of Gujarat.
Mevani demanded that the workers be paid within 72 hours. He also urged the Congress, which brought in the scheme, to take up the issue.
He said that he plans to collect data of the scheme from all the states.