MGNREGA Bachao Yatra concludes in Hyderabad with pledge to resist rural job scheme dilution
Hyderabad: The Congress party concluded its three-day MGNREGA Bachao Sangram Yatra in Hyderabad on Monday with a final protest march from Nalgonda X Road to TV Tower, Moosrambagh. They pledged to intensify the fight against what it called the Modi government’s “corporatisation of rural employment.”
Organised by the Hyderabad District Congress Committee (DCC), the yatra began on January 24 and passed through major Assembly segments. These segments included Charminar, Yakutpura, Bahadurpura, Chandrayangutta, and Malakpet.
Congress warns against “contractor control” of MGNREGA
Addressing the gathering, DCC President Syed Khalid Saifullah said MGNREGA was a constitutional right, not a welfare favour. “We will not allow it to be dismantled by turning it into a contractor-driven scheme controlled from Delhi,” he said.
The Congress accused the Union government of four key changes to MGNREGA: removing the legal guarantee of employment, scrapping minimum wage assurances, replacing Panchayat-based planning with contractor control, and transferring wage responsibility to State Governments.
Leaders cite threat to rural poor, women
Party leaders including V. Hanumatha Rao and AICC Secretary Sachin Sawant joined earlier phases of the yatra. They warned that these changes would hit women and marginalised rural households hardest. Moreover, they said the changes undermine the original intent of MGNREGA, which was to provide guaranteed employment and community empowerment.
Assembly in-charges Rajesh Kumar Pulipati (Bahadurpura), B. Nagesh (Chandrayangutta), Mohmmed Mujeebullah Shareef (Charminar), Shaik Akbar (Malakpet), K. Ravi Raj (Yakutpura), and Karwan Assembly in-charge Osman Al Hajri participated, along with several other local Congress leaders.
Republic Day ends yatra, not the struggle
With the yatra concluding on Republic Day, Congress leaders reaffirmed their commitment to oppose what they termed the erosion of rural employment rights. In addition, they vowed to keep protesting until the central government restores the original legal and structural framework of MGNREGA.