Udhampur, 13 January (H.S.): The District BJP Udhampur today hailed the newly enacted VB G-RAM-G Act as a historic and transformative reform aimed at genuine rural empowerment and sustainable development.

Addressing a press conference, Deputy Leader of Opposition Pawan Kumar Gupta, along with MLA Chenani Balwant Singh Mankotia, MLA Udhampur East Ranbir Singh Pathania, MLA Ramnagar Sunil Bhardwaj, and District President Arun Gupta, described the legislation as a decisive improvement over the deeply flawed MGNREGA framework.

Speaking on the occasion, the leaders stated that while MGNREGA promised 100 days of employment, the reality on the ground remained limited to barely 45–50 days of work, plagued by chronic payment delays, fake muster rolls and contractor-driven execution. They asserted that the VB G-RAM-G Act decisively ends this “paper guarantee” and replaces it with a legally enforceable assurance of 125 days of employment, backed by strict accountability, transparency and time-bound delivery.

Highlighting the key provisions of the Act, they said it restores the supremacy of Gram Sabhas in planning, execution and monitoring, thereby ensuring genuine decentralisation. Wage payments will be time-bound, with automatic compensation for delays, while social audits, geo-tagging and digital monitoring will eliminate corruption and leakages. The Act also expands employment opportunities from unskilled labour to semi-skilled and skilled work, creating dignified livelihood opportunities for youth and women.

The BJP leaders emphasised that the Act focuses on creation of durable and productive rural assets such as water conservation structures, irrigation facilities, rural roads and community infrastructure. These assets, they said, will strengthen village economies, improve agricultural productivity and reduce distress migration.

Rejecting allegations that the law is anti-poor, the leaders clarified that it is not an abolition but a reform and upgradation of MGNREGA, aimed at ending exploitation, eliminating middlemen and ensuring optimal utilisation of public funds. The legislation, they said, enhances productivity per rupee spent and brings rural households into the mainstream of development.

Concluding the press conference, the leaders Pawan Kumar Gupta, Balwant Singh Mankotia, Ranbir Singh Pathania, Sunil Bhardwaj, Arun Gupta, Varinder Badyal, Rohit Sethi, Sunil Magotra and Ajay Gudda declared that the VB G-RAM-G Act signifies “125 days of real work on the ground, not 100 days on paper,” marking a decisive shift from dependency to self-reliance and from temporary relief to permanent rural development.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Krishan Kumar