Port Blair, Feb 07: The Andaman SarvajanikNirmanVibhag Mazdoor Sangh (ASNVMS), affiliated to CITU, has conducted a territory-wide mass demonstration in front of the offices of the APWD today (07.02.2023) demanding Bonus to all daily rated mazdoors working in APWD. The programme was organized after the decision of the Administration to limit the Adhoc Bonus only to those DRMs who have been benefited with the 1/30th of pay plus DA.
At Port Blair, the mass demonstration was organized in front of the office of the Chief Engineer, APWD. Hundreds of workers of APWD participated in the Mass Demonstration which was led by Mr.R.Surendran Pillai, President, CITU, Mr. M. Boominathan, Vice President, CITU, BC Bhattacharjee, Vice President, CITU, SP Kalairajan, General Secretary, ASNVMS, P. Sathyapal, Secretary, CITU, Anand Rajan, Treasurer, ASNVMS, MV Yugander, Secretary, CITU, Sreenu Babu and Kalidas of ASNVMS. Addressing the massive gathering, B. Chandrachoodan, President, ASNVMS criticized the Administration and APWD for limiting the benefit of Bonus only to DRMs of 1/30th pay plus DA category and demanded that all DRMs should be given the bonus. He further said that since the High Court on 19th December, 2023 had directed the Administration to extend the 1/30th of pay plus DA benefit to all DRMs, there should not be any discrimination among the DRMs and all DRMs should be given the benefit of Bonus. He said that the ASNVMS has been fighting for these demands right from 2015. In 2016, the National Lok Adalat at Port Blair through a settlement order had directed the Administration to extend the bonus to all casual mazdoors working in APWD. The Administration, however, refused to extend the Bonus to DRMs and the Union had to knock on the doors of the High Court. The High Court had also directed the Administration to implement the Lok Adalat order, but the Administration/APWD continued to deny the benefit to the workers. When the Contempt Petition filed by the ASNVMS in 2019 was taken up for hearing in December, 2022, the Administration took the decision to limit the Bonus only to those DRMs who have been benefited with the 1/30th of pay plus DA. The ASNVMS immediately took up the matter with the Chief Engineer, APWD, urging him to extend the Bonus to all DRMs.
At Diglipur, the mass demonstration was held in front of the Executive Engineer’s office which was led by Barun Biswas, N. Murthy, DilipKarmakar, Probin Sarkar and others. A large number of workers participated in the mass demonstration.
At Mayabunder, the Mass Demonstration was held in front of the office of the Executive Engineer, APWD, Mayabunder. A large number of workers of Mayabunder Division participated in the programme which was led by Muralidharan Pillai and Murugan.
At Campbell Bay, the mass demonstration was held in front of the office of the Executive Engineer, APWD Campbell Bay which was led by Mr.Dandapani.
