It is very difficult for any person to attend to court proceedings even in a couple of cases. It will be a Herculean task to do so in too many cases. It may be difficult task for many people but not for CITU General Secretary-Srikakulam district D. Govinda Rao who has been arrested in 226 cases in the last few years. He faces court proceedings and frequent arrests with a smile. He says those never pained him as he is fighting for public issues and legitimate problems of workers.
He has been in the limelight for the last couple of years with frequent agitations against the establishment of an atomic power plant at Kovvada of Ranasthalam mandal, Srikakulam district.
The district administration is worried with his ‘successful’ agitations which delayed the land acquisition process for the plant. The officials are clueless in handling Mr. Govinda Rao’s strategies as he had strong grip over the workers and the people of the downtrodden sections.
His previous agitations over the protection of workers’ rights in many industries such as Aurobindo Pharma and Dr. Reddy’s Laboratory and other multinational companies caught the attention of everyone.
Mr. Govinda Rao who has Masters Degree in Law argues forcefully before Labour Department officials over labour disputes.
“Sometimes, we have to continue agitations for almost six months to get justice from companies. It is really a challenge for me to instill confidence among the workers who have to continue the protest without wages. At the end of the day, they appreciate me for leading the agitation in spite of lathi-charges, arrests and court cases,” he said.
