New Delhi: For the past 30 days, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) workers have been protesting in New Delhi against the perceived onslaught on the Act.Their demands to revoke the app-based attendance system, Aadhar-based payment system (ABPS), increase in the NREGA budget, timely payment of wages and release of pending wages are on top of the list. Despite a month- long protest, however, there is no word from the government yet. Meanwhile, when the protestors tried to engage with students at the Arts Faculty, Delhi University, students and activists were detained for several hours on March 24.Delhi police abruptly stopped Jean Dreze, Richa Singh, Com. Somnath and students at Delhi University while conducting a program at DU Arts Faculty on the ongoing attack on NREGA by the central government. pic.twitter.com/7z84lHznT7— NREGA Sangharsh (@NREGA_Sangharsh) March 24, 2023NREGA Sangharsh Morcha, the parent organisation organising the protest, in a press statement issued following the event has stated that at an event organised by a student organisation called Collective, economist Jean Dreze, Richa Singh of Sangatin Kisan Mazdoor Sangathan, Uttar Pradesh and Somnath of Jan Sangharsh Manch, Haryana were slated to speak. “The event had just begun when it was abruptly stopped by the police and the organisers, speakers and other students were taken to the Maurice Nagar police station,” the statement says. Somnath, two students from the DU and a foreign student were detained by the police for over three hours, the organisation has claimed.The NREGA workers’ protest at Jantar Mantar. Photo: NREGA Sangharsh MorchaOrganising a demonstration at Jantar Mantar, a designated protest space in New Delhi, has not been easy, says Rajshekhar of the NREGA Sangharsh Morcha. Just a day before the police detention, the protesting workers were removed from Jantar Mantar despite having obtained prior permission to organise a protest. The workers were asked to vacate the protest site or be removed by force by police personnel in order to make way for an event organised by the Aam Aadmi Party.The day before that as well, the workers’ right to protest was disrupted by a rally organised by BJP workers who took over most of the protest site while all other demonstrations were pushed to the sidelines, the organisation has stated in the press statement. “The protestors were unable to procure mics and even had to bring their own carpets as they were made to settle down in a tiny space beyond the police barricades,” the statement reads.Over the past one month, the workers delegations have made attempts to meet officials of the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) to present their grievances. But, they say, they were “repeatedly turned away”. Union minister (MoRD) Giriraj Singh also denied having received any NREGA-related complaints in Parliament, they allege. The meeting on March 21 between a workers’ delegation from Jharkhand and MoRD secretary Shailesh Kumar Singh and joint secretary Amit Kataria ended without any concrete discussion and the organisation says the officials were “non-committal about the issues presented to them”.Additionally, workers from West Bengal whose wages are pending since December 2021 and have not been given any NREGA work through FY 22-23, have also filed complaints with the National Human Rights Commission, the statement claims.