Protest to continue till Govt releases pending benefits to affected families: Rangad

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaJuly 22, 2021

Thma U Rangli-Juki (TUR) leader Angela Rangad on Thursday said the protest will continue against the state government’s apathy towards people whose livelihood activities have been affected by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Rangad has been staging a sit-in-demonstration at the entrance gate of the main secretariat for the last three days demanding immediate release of all pending benefits to the affected people.

“This protest will continue till we get a very solid assurance that within a week the pending benefits will be cleared and that those who applied and didn’t find their names also they deserve a response that you were not considered because of so and so reason – you cannot just keep quiet and leave people hanging,” Rangad said.

She informed that the organization had already given in writing all its findings to the government indicating the problem due to the fact that many people have not received the financial relief of Rs 2,100 and Rs 5,000.

Asked, Rangad said that complaints about this money not having reached the beneficiaries continues to come in. “This means it is real, it is there. They are not fools. They (Govt) are trying to blame them for giving wrong account numbers…If they don’t want to listen to them and their distress, it is very obvious what kind of a government is this,” she said.

“…if they want to show that they are not just a government for themselves, for the rich and they are not running the state as if they are CEOs of a company where their main motive is profit, then they will think twice about just ignoring the distress which is real among the people,” she added.

The TUR leader also demanded the government to ensure that MGNREGS works start immediately and to increase the working days from 100 to 150 days since there has been total dislocation of people’s livelihood.

“In fact other states are demanding 200 days, double the number of days as we need a kind of economic stimulus package – one of them can be MNREGS,” she stated.