Port Blair, Sept 20 : The Centre of Indian Trade Unions, Andaman & Nicobar State Committee has organized a Mass Dharna, Procession and Public meeting today (20.09.2022) at Tiranga Park, Port Blair, to protest against various anti-working class policies of the central government and Andaman & Nicobar Administration. The mass dharna was held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. which was followed by a mass procession from Tiranga Park and concluded at the same venue which converged into a public meeting. The procession stopped in front of office of Chief Engineer, APWD and made a mass demonstration to protest against the anti-working class attitude of the APWD authorities. Hundreds of workers from various unions at Port Blair participated in the procession.
Addressing the public meeting at Tiranga Park, Mr. B. Chandrachoodan, General Secretary, CITU State Committee criticizsed the A & N Administration for not implementing the Govt. of India’s order of 1988 regarding grant of 1/30th of pay plus DA to all the DRMs. He said that even the High Court at Calcutta during 2019 had ordered to grant the said benefit to all the DRMs from the date of their initial appointment, but the BJP-ruled central government and its Administration here do not honour the court verdict and continue to keep thousands of employees denied of their right to have 1/30th of pay plus DA financial benefits.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. D. Ayyappan, Vice President, CITU A & N State Committee, who presided over the public meeting, explained in brief the attempts made by the BJP government to take away whatever rights the working class had in the country and said that all the labour laws have been abolished and in its place 4 new Labour Codes introduced and passed in the Parliament with a view to curtail the rights of workers and to appease the corporates in the country. He said that the Modi-government is ruling the country only for the benefit of the corporates like Adani and Ambani whose profits are increasing every year by lakhs of crores of rupees while the workers, farmers and small and medium businessmen are facing hardship due to these policies of the BJP government.
Addressing the meeting, CPI (M) leader Mr. D. LaxmanRao criticized the BJP government for privatization of public sector undertakings one by one in the country. Mr. SP Kalairajan, Vice President, CITU State Committee also addressed the meeting. The mass dharna and procession was led by Mr. R. SurendranPillai, President, CITU State Committee and Mr. BS Bhattacharjee, Vice President, CITU.