Treated as ‘second-class’ citizens, labours threaten mass exodus

Ludhiana In a meeting of Bhartiya Mazdoor Sangh, workers warned the government to pay them well, else they will lead an exodus from Punjab. “Forty percent of the workers have already returned to their hometowns in Bihar and UP because they do not get respect from employers and are treated as second class citizens,” said District Secretary Nageshwar Singh.
Despite working hard, they are not given the salary they deserve, said Singh, while adding that the minimum wages in the factory is Rs 3,500 per month but after debiting various allowances the worker gets only Rs 2,000. Singh demanded to increase the the wages to Rs 8,000, failing which they will be forced to move out of Punjab.

State Secretary Joginder Sharma said: “Workers are not given housing facilities and the salary hike is not at par with the rising inflation. Punjab government has failed to retain the labourers in the state.”

Sharma added: “Their home state is also seeing many infrastructure-related changes and hence it is better to work in the hometown rather than be treated as second-class citizens in Punjab .”

They also condemned the hike in fuel prices and asked the government to withdraw the hike.

The union members also plan to protest against the through rallies and dharnas.

BKU condemns fuel price hike

The Bharti Kisan Union (BKU) district unit held a meeting and condemned the hike in fuel prices. BKU general secretary Darshan Singh Koohli said: “The charges of paddy sowing will be increased while the minimum support price (MSP) was announced last year only. The government should revise the MSP of paddy because this is the fourth hike in diesel prices in the past one year.”