Karnataka - Gulbarga   

GESCOM contract workers launch indefinite fast

For minimum wages: Five contract workers of the Gulbarga Electricity Supply Company who began their indefinite fast in Gulbarga on Tuesday .

GULBARGA: Contract workers of the Gulbarga Electricity Supply Company (GESCOM) on Tuesday launched an indefinite fast in front of the administrative office of the GESCOM demanding payment of minimum wages.

Five contract workers hired as peons and sweepers in the GESCOM office— Sharadabai, Maramma, Vikram Chavan, Chandrasekhar Gudur and Gundappa Poojar — are observing the fast.

The workers, who have been on a relay fast since November 17, had threatened to launch the indefinite fast from Tuesday if their demand for payment of minimum wages was not conceded.

Meanwhile, a conciliatory meeting convened on Monday to resolve the issue failed to find a solution after the GESCOM authorities allegedly insisted on removing at least two contract workers from the service as a condition for payment of minimum wages to others. Leaders of the GESCOM Contract Labourers’ Federation walked out of the meeting after the authorities proposed the move. Communist Party of India (CPI) district secretary Shoukat Ali Alur, who is spearheading the agitation, said that the GESCOM was only the electricity supply company not paying minimum wages to contract workers.

The fast has been supported by the KSRTC Staff and workers’ Union affiliated to the All India Trade Union Congress, Dalit Sena, and the district CPI.

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