Patiala:- A meeting of the Punjab Construction Workers Union (Regd. Punjab), District Patiala, was held at the Labor Office, Patiala. In this meeting, a large number of leaders and workers of construction worker unions from various villages of Patiala district participated. Especially, Hari Singh Daun Kalan, Amarjit Singh Ghanaur, Darshan Singh Belumajra, Sukhpal Singh Kadrabad, Raj Kishan, and Randhir Singh Kadrabad, along with colleagues from across the district, took part in the meeting.
Addressing the meeting, Hari Singh Daun Kalan, Comrade Darshan Singh Belumajra, and Sucha Singh Kaul condemned the anti-people policies of the Modi government and said that both the Punjab and Central governments have proven to be anti-laborer. They stated that the governments are moving towards abolishing the available welfare schemes by dismantling the Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board, which was created for the welfare of workers engaged in the construction sector, and replacing it with the Code on Social Security.
The source of income for the board was the cess, which was previously levied at 1 percent on construction worth 10 lakh; now, by making labor cess free up to 50 lakh, they are heading towards dismantling the construction board. Even the wages of MGNREGA workers are being phased out in the current times by altering the ratio to 60:40, moving towards ending the law.
For some time now, due to work shifting online, lakhs of construction workers have been facing harassment and distress. This is because every day inside the Sewa Kendras, under the pretext that the server is down or the site is not working, workers are forced to skip their daily wages. The union leaders also condemned the daily increase in the prices of sand, gravel, cement, and steel bars because due to this unfair rise in material rates, construction work is coming to a standstill.
We demand an answer from the Aam Aadmi Party, which came into power by taking votes in the name of controlling sand and gravel rates or mining lease possessions, but today, following those very same footsteps, the prices of construction material are touching the sky.
The comrades speaking during the meeting stated that the MGNREGA and construction workers will chalk out joint struggles in the coming times, and programs for massive agitations will be formulated. Leaders of both the Central and Punjab governments will be firmly opposed upon entering the villages, and they will be questioned in the villages. If the governments do not pay attention to the issues of the laborers, then through massive struggles, effigies of Modi and Bhagwant Mann will be burnt in villages and cities.
Apart from others, Comrade Sucha Singh Kaul, Amarjit Singh Ghanaur, Hari Singh Daun Kalan, Comrade Darshan Singh Belumajra, Sukhpal Singh Kadrabad, Rafiq Muhammad Madhoheri, Prahlad Singh Nyal, Sukhdev Singh Nyal, Magghar Singh Babarpur, Randhir Singh Kadrabad, Bibi Narinder Kaur Joda Majra, and several other leaders addressed the meeting.