Thousands of MNREGA and construction workers surrounded the Himachal Pradesh secretariat
Thousands of workers protested against the Sukhu government in Shimla for depriving Construction workers of the benefit of the Labour Welfare Board.
On the call of CITU-related MGNREGA and Construction Workers Federation, which was led by Federation State President Joginder Kumar, General Secretary Bhupendra Singh, CITU State President Vijender Maihra, and General Secretary Prem Gautam.
Thousands of laborers from all the districts of the state had started gathering at Toland Chowk since morning and then carrying banners and playing cords in their hands, took out a protest march towards the Secretariat in Chhota Shimla, raising slogans.
The workers demonstrated peacefully and on being stopped by the police, sat on the road for two hours and organized a public meeting.
After this, the delegation of the union met Labor Minister Mr. Dhani Ram Shandil and handed over the memorandum to him. The Labor Minister assured that the withheld financial benefits of the laborers would be released immediately. Appropriate decisions will be taken in this regard by organizing a meeting of the Workers’ Welfare Board within a week.
It is worth mentioning that on the second day of swearing-in, the Sukhu government illegally banned four and a half lakh laborers of the state from getting assistance from the State Labor Welfare Board and registration and renewal in their board, against which today the labor union protested.
National Secretary of CITU Dr. Kashmir Singh Thakur, Ravindra Kumar, Jagat Ram, Kuldeep Dogra, Ajay Dulata, Rajesh Sharma, Gurdas Verma, Sunil Mehta, Chaman Lal, Ashish Kumar, Mohit, Narendra, Ranjan Sharma, Suresh Rathore, etc. were present in the demonstration.
State President of the Federation Joginder Kumar and General Secretary Bhupendra Singh while addressing the rally said that the government of the Congress Party led by Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu in the state, through a notification issued on December 12, 2022, the very next day i.e. on December 12, 2022.
The benefits of the laborers have been stopped and after an illegal notification issued on February 8, the registration and renewal of the construction workers has also been stopped, due to which the work of the board has been completely stopped for the last six months.
He told that the Labor Federation had met the Chief Minister, his Advisor Labor Department, and the Secretary of the Board in the last three months and demanded to restore the benefits of the laborers, but till now this ban has not been removed, due to which now the laborers are facing difficulties. Though a decision was taken in the board meeting held on 3rd April to release the pending benefits of the last three years, the same has not been implemented yet.
CITU National Secretary Dr. Kashmir Singh Thakur said that in the last ten years, a maximum of 75,000 workers from Hamirpur district have become members of the board and they have received benefits worth crores of rupees from the board but the Chief Minister and his political advisor who are from Hamirpur only.
They are related, and both of them together have stopped all this, due to which now they are facing opposition in their own house, the proof of which is that most of the laborers from Hamirpur district have come to the Shimla rally today and now they are facing its political consequences.
He said that this time the construction and MNREGA workers had contributed significantly to forming the Congress government, but this government has taken a decision against them first.
CITU State President Vijender Mehra and General Secretary Prem Gautam said during this time that this decision of the Sukhu government is not justified in any way and they should take a decision to release the benefits of the laborers.
