Uninterrupted power for 24 hours a day and seven days a week to Raichur district has been a long pending demand owing to the presence of the Raichur Thermal Power Station (RTPS) and the Yermarus Thermal Power Station (YTPS) here. Now, that is going to be partially fulfilled shortly.
As per information by P. Srinivas Reddy, a leader of contract labourers employed in RTPS, the Chief Secretary of the State government has agreed to the following demands — round the clock power supply to Raichur taluk, regularisation of contract labourers working in RTPS and settling the issues of landowners who had lost their lands for RTPS — for which contact labourers laid siege to RTPS on Friday.
Addressing a press conference here on Saturday, Mr. Reddy thanked all the organisations, individuals, contract labourers and other forces that actively participated in Friday's agitation.
“Chief Secretary of the government talked to agitation’s leaders over phone on Friday evening and assured that district in-charge minister Tanvir Sait would, on Independence Day, announce the 24x7 uninterrupted power to Raichur taluk from September 1. People had been demanding it for the entire district. Now, the government has agreed to give it to the taluk,” he said.
Mr. Reddy also said that the government had also agreed to regularise all the contract labourers who had completed 10 years of service. “The RTPS management had earlier misguided the government by saying that only 458 employees were working on contract basis since 1996, of whom only 119 were eligible for regularisation. We contended it by saying that the contract labourers were working since 1984 and their number was 1,582, of whom more than 1200 who had completed 10 years of service were eligible for regularisation. Now the government agreed with our version and decided to regularise the eligible in phase manner,” he said.
Mr. Reddy said that neither he nor any other leaders who led the agitation made any attempt to keep Congress leaders away from the agitation. “I myself approached many Congress leaders and requested them to join hands in our struggle keeping larger interest of the district and contract labourers. They displayed disinterest and distanced themselves,” he said.
JD(S) leaders N. Shivashankar and Yusuf Khan, Dalit leaders Ambanna Aroli and Amaresh and others were present.
