Port Blair, Nov 04: On conclusion of the week-long campaign organized by CITU, a Mass Dharna was organized at Tiranga Park from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on 2nd November. A large number of employees and workers participated in the Mass Dharna. The Mass Dharna was followed by a largely – attended public meeting at the same venue. The speakers during the meeting criticized the anti employees policies adopted by the present UPA Government and A & N Administration. They said that the A & N Administration is not taking any step to regularize the services of hundreds of daily-rated mazdoors working in various government departments.
The speakers came down heavily on the Congress (i) – led Port Blair Municipal Council for increasing the water charges from Rs.25 to 100. They had also criticized the UPA government for restricting the subsidized LPG cylinders to six in a year. The speakers expressed concern over the increasing price rise in the country. Shri B. Chandrachoodan, General Secretary, CITU, D.Lakshman Rao (CITU), Shri TS Sreekumar, Asst. General Secretary, NGO’s Association, Shri Satyanarayan (STS Union) addressed the public meeting which was presided over by Shri SB Chatterjee. The issues highlighted during the campaign includes among others (1) against privatization (2) against various anti-labour policies being pursued by central government (3) against FDI in Pension and Retail sector, (4) implementation of wage agreement in the Forest Corporation (5) against price rise (6) filling up of vacant posts (7) against corruption in the political establishments and Administration, etc.
