Karimnagar: Activists and members of the Congress launched a protest opposing the government’s decision to shut down the Nizam Deccan Sugars Limited (NDSL) located in Muthyampet village of Mallapur mandal, on Friday.
Vijay Azad, secretary of the Congress’ OBC Cell, flayed the government for not responding over the layoffs in the factory. “It is unfair to shut down the factory on which 50,000 farmers rely and generates employment to several hundreds of labourers. The TRS government should to take steps to resume operations of the NDSL,” he demanded.
Congress leaders regretted that the farming community would be forced to sell their produce to middlemen at comparatively cheaper prices, registering losses. They urged the government to intervene in the issue and to strive hard to resume production at the factory.
Otherwise, the Congress would intensify the stir, they cautioned. In the meantime, the dharna, being staged by 220 employees of the factory who were forced to resign through voluntary retirement service, ente-red 84th day on Friday. They are demanding the management of the unit to reappoint them. A total of 116 more employees lost their jobs following the latest decision to shut down the factory.
It may be recalled that governing board of the factory had a meeting and announced its layoff on December 18. The TRS government did not take over the NDSL as announced in the past. The NDSL unit was set up at Muthyampet in 1978. However, after the death of YSR, the succeeding Congress governments put the committee’s recommendation on the backburner.
During 2014 general elections, the TRS supremo K. Chandrasekhar Rao assured that the NDSL would be taken over if his party was elected to power.
