Hyderabad, November 23: Communist Party of India (Marxist) state secretary BV Raghavulu and Telugu Desam leader E Peddi Reddy have accused the state government of not bothering about the problems of the medical staff of ‘104’ services, beedi workers and Singareni Collieries workers who have been agitating for the past 40 days for redressing their grievances.
The state unit of CPM conducted an all-party-meeting here on Sunday to discuss the issue. ”There is hardly any response from the government despite the continued protests. Is there a labour minister in the state?” the participants wondered. E Peddireddy of TDP, Obulesu of CPI, Goutham of PRP, C Uma of TRS, Geetha Murthy of Lok Satta Party and Janaki Ramulu of RSP took part in the discussion.
Later, briefing mediapersons, Raghavulu urged chief minister K Rosaiah to conduct an all-party meeting immediately to discuss the issue. ”If the government does not respond, we will support their agitational programmes directly,” he warned and said that he would meet the chief minister to explain the workers’ problems and submit a memorandum.
Referring to the chief minister’s alleged remark that those wanting to commit suicide could jump into the Hussainsagar, Raghavulu said it was not employees but the Secretariat which must be dumped into the lake for its insensitivity to the problems of workers.
Peddi Reddy, a former labour minister, was also critical of government’s policies. ”The government is proactive on matters concerning the rich but hardly pays attention to problems of the poor and unorganised workers,” he said and lamented: ”One can understand any bias on the part of the government but it is unfortunate that even the media is indifferent to the workers’ problems.”
–Agencies