Trinamul leaders in Alipurduar district will reach out to people dwelling in rural belts across the district from Wednesday to hear their grievances about the 100-day job scheme or MGNREGS.

They will also tell the people the party’s stand and the political activities taken up to exert pressure on the Centre to provide funds for the scheme to Bengal.

The Centre has frozen funds for MGNREGS to Bengal for nearly two years, alleging misappropriation of funds.

The campaign, Trinamul insiders said, will continue for the next 10 days.

There are 1,177 booths in 64 panchayats of Alipurduar district.

“We are initiating this programme and will meet job card holders to know their status ever since the Centre has stopped providing funds of MGNREGS to the state. It is important to know how they are making a living now. Simultaneously, we will apprise them of what the state government and Trinamul have been doing to exert pressure on the Centre to release the funds to us,” said Prakash Chik Baraik, the district Trinamul president.

During their visit, the Trinamul leaders will reach weekly markets, prominent road crossings and locations where people usually gather on different occasions.

The initiative, party sources said, has been taken to keep the issue bubbling among the people till next year’s Lok Sabha elections.

In 2019, the BJP had won the Alipurduar parliamentary seat by a margin of 2.5 lakh votes, defeating the Trinamul candidate.

However, Trinamul leaders said that the funds freeze by the Narendra Modi government for different rural schemes, especially the MGNREGS, negatively impacted the rural sectors of Bengal.

“People are aggrieved with the BJP as there are many people who have worked in the Central job scheme but ultimately didn’t get their wages. Our leaders will meet these people and express our support to them. We want to drive home the point that, on one hand, the central government is depriving lakhs of beneficiaries here. On the other hand, the legislators of the BJP from districts like Alipurduar and neighbouring Cooch Behar are silent on the issue,” said a party leader.

The BJP leaders in Alipurduar, however, opined that such political moves will not help Trinamul.

“People are well aware that funds have stopped coming from the Centre due to corruption (of the state government). Such attempts to convince people will not work. We are confident of retaining the Alipurduar parliamentary seat again,” said Manoj Tigga, BJP’s chief whip in the Assembly, who is from the district.