With no sign of the implementation of the ‘Khela Hobe’ scheme to provide employment to the people of West Bengal on the lines of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), a union of agricultural workers has stepped up the heat on the Trinamool Congress (TMC) by applying for work under the scheme.
After the MGNREGA scheme came to a halt in the State, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, during the annual martyrs’ day rally of her party on July 21, 2023 announced a scheme called ‘Khela Hobe‘ (game is on) to provide employment to MGNREGA workers. Khela Hobe was one of the slogans used by the TMC leadership during its successful campaign for the 2021 Assembly election in the State.
“In the first 2 weeks of October , 741 workers have applied for work under Khela Hobe in Purulia alone,” a press statement by Paschim Banga Khet Majoor Samity (PBKMS) said. The group claimed no work had been given to those who had made the applications. There is no clarity on the ‘Khela Hobe’ scheme in the State since its announcement.
