A newly-constituted Forum against Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in railways, defence and insurance sectors has announced that it would conduct a seminar on November 28, to improve awareness among people on the fallout of 100 per cent FDI proposed in the railways.
At a press conference here on Monday, general secretary of the South Central Railway Mazdoor Union, Ch. Sankara Rao, regretted that 100 per cent FDI was proposed in the railways and pointed out that 49 per cent each was proposed in the defence and insurance sectors. “FDI in any form is directly against the interests of the working classes and that is simply not acceptable to us,” he declared.
While Gopala Rao and Chandraiah represented the Defence Employees’ Union, Clement Das and A.V.S.N. Raju were present on behalf of the Insurance Employees Union. All of them underscored the need for a protracted struggle against the anti-worker policies of the Narendra Modi Government.
Citing an example of how the Bharatiya Janata Party Government at the Centre was going ga-ga over the ‘bullet train’ concept, Mr. Sankara Rao said that to lay the concrete-based track for a bullet train between Mumbai and Ahmedabad, it would cost an estimated Rs. 30 lakh crore. “With this kind of money, we can complete all the ongoing projects across the length and breadth of the Indian Railways. Do we need this kind of exorbitance,” he asked.
