Hyderabad: Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee president N Uttam Kumar Reddy on Friday demanded that the TRS Government cancel all the illegal layoffs of Nizam Sugar Factory and release the salary arrears of sugar cane farmers at the earliest. He also asked the State Government to resolve the total issues of the factory workers on priority basis.
He was speaking after a delegation of employees of Nizam Sugar factories from Medak, Bodhan, Nizamabad and Metpally met him at his residence.
The delegation of the factory workers explained various issues pertaining to the sudden closure (lay-off) of the Nizam Sugar factory without showing any reason by the current management.
Stating that the Nizam Sugar Factory workers have played a key role during the Telangana movement, Uttam Kumar Reddy alleged that the TRS Government has completely ignored the problems being faced them. He reminded that Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao, during election campaign, had promised to take over the factory by issuing an ordinance, if not by legislation. However, the issue was completely forgotten once the elections were over.
The delegation informed that due to the sudden lay off, hundreds of factory workers and indirect dependents were left in lurch and were jobless. They reminded that earlier the factory was run under Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode. KCR had promised that after the formation of Telangana, it would be run by State Government. But the management had announced the layoffs from December 23, 2015 citing filmsy reasons.
Uttam Kumar Reddy said that TRS Government was wasting public money to construct a palatial and lavish camp office for KCR at a cost of Rs. 36 crore. But it is showing no concern to resolve the problems of hundreds of NSF workers and their families who are literally starving due to illegal layoffs. “KCR has been distributing freebies to big corporates in the name of new industrial policy. But he has no time to review and resolve the problems of workers of Nizam Sugar Factor. While making fake claims of generating employment, KCR is hushing up the fact that his government has snatched the livelihood of thousands of poor workers by not reviving Nizam Sugar Factory, Sirpur Kagazghar Mills and other sick industries in the State,” he said.
The TPCC Chief said that the Congress party would not remain a mute spectator to the injustices being done with the workers of Nizam Sugar Factory and other sick industries. He said that the Congress would soon convene an all party meeting to discuss the issue. While announcing that the issue would be raised in Telangana Assembly and Council, he said that the Congress was ready to take this fight to streets.
Interacting with TPCC Chief Spokesperson Dr Sravan Dasoju, the delegation members informed that the management has ignored prior agreements with sugar cane farmers, did not release pending arrears and did not resolve the genuine issues of workers and despite no losses, it has announced for the lay off. Hundreds of sugarcane farmers and workers were hit due to this manufactured crisis, they lamented. Senior congress leader Gosula Srinivas Yadav was also present during the interaction. (INN)