Banda (UP): Unable to find work under the MGNREGA, a group of villagers here have started on the laborious task of cleaning a canal so that water reaches its tail-end.

About 70 labourers from Naugava village in Naraini tehsil have decided to do it for free a shramdaan to give life again to land turning barren. Authorities now want to pay them for the job they have taken upon themselves, but the villagers have turned down the offer.

Shyamlal, one of the workers, said villagers were not finding work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act.

A stretch of the 40-km-long canal between Guhala Kalan and Divli villages was also not cleaned for years, he adds.

Due to this, the fertile agriculture land was becoming barren. I was sitting idle since I did not get any job under the MGNREGA. Then I thought that I should clean the canal so that water reaches its tail-end and we are able to grow foodgrains to feed our children," he says.

Another labourer, Ramswaroop, says people from nearby villages have donated food to them, which is being cooked by women involved in the sharmdaan .

Gulabrani, Mamta, Sumitra and Rani are among the women taking care of the task. They have named their kitchen "Shramdaan Rasoi". At present, 65-70 people are involved in the initiative, says Gulabrani.

"Till a few years ago, crops were irrigated by water from this canal. But for the past two to four years due to the non-cleaning of silt, there was a shortage of water," she says.

Sumitra, who is also cooking food with Gulabrani, says if every agriculture field gets water, crops can be produced and people will not have to go to other places to earn a living .

Meanwhile, the Executive Engineer of the Irrigation Department in Banda, Sharad Singh, said, "As we got news on Saturday of labourers doing the 'shramdaan', a departmental staffer was sent.

We spoke to them over the phone. Their work is praiseworthy. We offered to pay wages but they did not agree to it," he says.

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Ranchi, May 6 (PTI): Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had cancelled his Kashmir visit after "receiving an intelligence report three days before" the Pahalgam terror attack last month.

Noting that during an all-party meeting, the Centre accepted "intelligence failure" in the Pahalgam carnage, Kharge said the union government should be held accountable for "not reinforcing" security arrangements in Kashmir to protect people, even after such inputs.

Reacting to Kharge's allegation, the BJP claimed that the Congress president's criticism of PM Modi over alleged intelligence failure in the Pahalgam terror attack was intended to "lower the morale of security forces".

Jharkhand BJP chief Babulal Marandi said that Kharge's comment at a critical time when the "fight against terrorism and Pakistan was at a decisive juncture" was "uncalled for".

Addressing a 'Samvidhan Bachao' rally in Jharkhand's capital, Ranchi, the Congress chief claimed that he "got information that three days before the attack, an intelligence report was sent to Modi ji, and that is why Modi ji cancelled his visit to Kashmir".

"When an intelligence report says that it is not proper to visit there for your security, why did you not inform your security, intelligence, local police, and border force to protect people," the Congress chief asked.

He also claimed, "When you (PM) got the information, you cancelled your programme but did not send more forces to protect tourists there."

Twenty-six people, mostly tourists, were killed in the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22.

Kharge claimed, "India is faced with a huge crisis. The Centre accepted the intelligence failure during the all-party meeting. You (PM Modi) admitted that there was an intelligence flaw. When the Centre knew about the possible terror strike, why did it not put in place a system to protect people?"

"Shouldn't the Centre be accountable for the loss of lives in the Pahalgam attack when it accepted the intelligence failure," he asked.

Kharge asserted that the Congress stands behind the Centre for "any action against Pakistan after the Pahalgam attack" as the country is "supreme and beyond party, religion and caste".

He claimed, "We fight for India, poor people, tribals", but the BJP and the PM believed "only in 'jumla' (rhetoric)".

Kharge also alleged that Modi's policy is to "close public sector institutions, like HEC in Ranchi, and snatch jobs from SC, ST, OBC communities".

There were 30 lakh job vacancies, but the government was "silent" on it, he claimed.

Kharge accused the Centre of unleashing forces, like the ED, against Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, who made "efforts to sustain a paper" like the National Herald, which played a "crucial role in India's Independence struggle".

"Unlike any Jana Sangh, RSS or BJP leader, several Congress leaders, including former PM Jawaharlal Nehru, were imprisoned. Now, these people are teaching us the lesson of patriotism," he said.

Kharge alleged that agencies like ED were "misused to scare opposition leaders" and said that only two persons were penalised in around 200 cases.

Alleging that the prime minister was "instrumental" in sending a tribal CM (Hemant Soren) behind bars, Kharge said, "PM Modi shouldn't indulge in practices to frighten tribal leaders".

The Congress chief said he has written to the PM, requesting him to carry out the caste census at the earliest after holding a dialogue with all political parties on this issue.

"In a letter to the PM, I have urged him to remove the 50 per cent cap on reservation by a constitutional amendment and immediately implement Article 15(5) providing for reservations for SCs, STs and OBCs in institutions," he said.

The Jharkhand BJP hit out at Kharge for his attack on the PM over the Pahalgam attack, claiming that the Congress chief's criticism of PM Modi over alleged intelligence failure was intended to "lower the morale of security forces".

"The Congress is indulging in politics at a time when the country stands with PM Modi in the fight against terror", BJP's Marandi said.