Members of Jagrut Mahila Okkoot were talking to reporters in Belagavi on Monday. | Photo credit: PK BADIGER
Members of Jagruta Mahila Okkoota have complained that gram panchayat officials in Surapur and other villages are neglecting the work of small and marginal farmers who were sanctioned under the erstwhile MGNREGA two years ago.
Activist Shilpa Vante told reporters in Belagavi on Monday that work approved two years ago under the now-cancelled MGNREGA has not been started till date.
She said even after two years in several villages, officials have not taken up minor works like recharging the well.
“In my village alone, 16 farmers have suffered this delay. These days we have been complaining about the delay to gram and taluk panchayat and agriculture and horticulture officials, but in vain. Most of us are small and marginal farmers. Our land is small and we have to rely on a lone well in our backyard. But if we need to cultivate January season water, we need to stop January season water. All officials know our problems, but they don’t help us,” said Mrs. Vante.
JMO member Mahananda Devi said officials forced farmers to spend money to place boards near their boreholes and said the work had been approved or even completed.
“Poor farm families spent nearly ₹10,000 from their pockets for these slabs, but the work never started,” she said.
She threatened to launch a protest outside the gram and taluk panchayat offices if the work was not started this month.
Another activist, Sharada Gopal, said that gram panchayat officials are indifferent to the problems faced by poor farmers.
“During the winter session in Belagavi, we met Additional Principal Secretary of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Uma Mahadevan. She directed the officials to complete these works. But then the only change was that we got more slabs. No work was started,” Ms Gopal said.
She said that rural local bodies are making little effort to create awareness about various horticulture and agriculture schemes. “We have found that small and marginal farmers are suffering from neglect at all levels from villages to districts. There is absolutely no clarity about the future of MGNREGA in the coming financial year. Now that MGNREGA will cease to exist from April 1 and the new VB-G RAM G Act will come into force, what will happen to all those schemes that were approved but not taken up? We need answers,” she said.
Social activist Shivaji Kaganikar and others were present.
Published – March 9, 2026 7:59 PM IST
