Contract workers try to besiege ministers house

SRIKAKULAM: Tension prevailed at the residence of roads and buildings minister Dharmana Prasada Rao here on Sunday when large number of contract workers of Panchayat Raj department along with CITU activists tried to lay siege to the minister’s house. The police, deployed at the minister’s house, foiled the bid and took as many as 93 activists into custody.
The contract workers of Panchayat Raj department under the aegis of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), have been staging dharna near the residence of the minister for the last 33 days, pressing the state government to resolve their long-pending demands including regularisation of the workers, payment of minimum wages, provident fund and ESI facilities.
In all, 1,101 workers have been working in various mandals of the district on contract basis for the last several years. Despite repeated representations, the minister reportedly did not respond to their demands.
Irked over this, the workers along with a group of CITU activists tried to swarm the residence of Prasada Rao before the police obstructed and took them into custody. According to the information, Govind, Y Mallayya, D Ramana Rao, A Suresh Babu and P Bhaskara Rao, all contract workers, were arrested.

(For updates you can share with your friends, follow IBNLive on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest)