INTUC firm on Singareni Collieries strike
Mr Uttam Kumar Reddy accused the CM of taking a U-turn on the issue of open cast mining.
Hyderabad: The TPCC and the Congress-supported INTUC have decided to take corner the state government for failing to provide jobs for the dependents of Singareni Collieries workers and for “cheating the workers” by issuing a faulty GO that was struck down by the Hyderabad High Court.
A high-level meeting ahead proposed strike across the Singareni Collieries spread over entire North Telangana was held in the Gandhi Bhavan on Friday. AICC secretary R.C. Kuntia and INTUC national president G. Sanjeeva Reddy took part in the meeting.
Briefing newsmen, Mr Sanjeeva Reddy said that in coordination with other unions, INTUC would serve a strike notice on April 17 seeking resolution of pending issues.
He said INTUC has information that one crore NREGS workers operating in Singareni areas have not been paid since the last four months and also denied basic amenities.
TPCC president N. Uttam Kumar Reddy accused Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao of cheating the workers of Singareni by promising to provide jobs to their dependent children and failed to do so.
He said the Congress was in favour of giving jobs to dependents of Singareni workers and asked the CM to adopt a sincere approach towards the issue, besides implementing the TRS promise of regularisation of contract workers, the TRS government failed to implement them. Mr Uttam Kumar Reddy accused the CM of taking a U-turn on the issue of open cast mining.
He reminded that Mr Rao had during elections promised to ban open cast mining. However, he approved 16 open cast mines after coming to power in June 2014.
A TPCC-constituted committee will study the problems being faced by the Sinagreni workers spread across 5 Lok Sabha and 24 Assembly constituencies. The panel would interact with Singareni employees and their families and list the problems and challenges they face on a daily basis.