About thousand CITU activists on Thursday had been prevented from conducting a pre-scheduled rally in Agartala and submitting a mass deputation to the Labour Commissioner. On observing the situation going out of the control the police personnel resorted to use water cannons to disperse the mob.
The rally in support of the 11 point charter of demands placed by the CPIM’s trade union began from its headquarters located at the Office line. As soon as the rally took a turn towards the Post office Chowmuhani, the police personnel put up a barricade at Paradise Chowmuhani. The activists succeeded to pull it down and headed towards the next city point–Post Office Chowmuhani.
The police placed another barricade there and on finding that it was also about to be violated, water cannons were opened. The police however, succeeded to prevent the rally from heading further and thus the rally could not cover the desired areas as scheduled.
Among the senior leaders, former Minister Manik Dey, Panchali Bhattacharjee, Tapan Das, Deputy Mayor Agartala Municipal Corporation Samar Chakraborty and many more led the rally from the front. Addressing the rally, Manik Dey said, “the government is maintaining a conspicuous silence when it comes to the welfare of the working class. The rights of people in unorganized sectors have been left trampled. Not less than 40 labour laws are converted into 4 codes. Regular wages are not cleared, ex-gratia and Puja bonuses are being paid. Such situations have never emerged in the prolonged Left rule”.
Dey accusing the government of playing a parochial role against the working class also alleged that had the Left remained in power, the situation would have been different and tripartite meetings to decide bonuses and ex-gratia would have been done earlier.
“Workers have no bonuses in this festive season. No clear attempts are there to resolve their problems. Such practices are enough to give indications of the intentions of the government”, claimed Manik.
He had also asked the government to return a sum of Rs 90 crore that had been taken by the government from a reserved fund meant for the welfare of the construction worker. “The 1 percent cess of the total construction work is collected for the welfare of construction workers. The government has withdrawn a sum of Rs 90 crore from that fund which they are not entitled to”, said Dey.
