Kavitha slams Centre over move to scrap MGNREGS

Hyderabad: BRS MLC K Kavitha on Thursday slammed the BJP government at the Centre alleging that it was attempting to weaken and eventually scrap MGNREGS, pushing the lives of rural poor into jeopardy.

She said the huge decrease in allocation of funds for the scheme in the Union Budget indicates the Centre's plans to discontinue it. After meeting the representatives of the MGNREGS Association here, Kavitha said the government allocated only Rs 60,000 crore for the MGNREGS, which was the lowest in the last five years. The BJP government has been reducing funds for the scheme- Rs 1.1 lakh crore in 2020-21, Rs 98,000 crore in 2021-22, to Rs 89,400 crore in 2022-23.

Kavitha said at least Rs 2.72 lakh crore was required for the effective implementation of MGNREGS this year, but the Centre allocated only Rs.60,000 crore, which indicates the government's intentions,"

She pointed out that the government did not create any new employment opportunities in rural areas in the last nine years and was not implementing schemes like MGNREGS. While the State government was trying to provide employment opportunities to people as much as possible, the Centre was not cooperating with States, she said.