Building construction workers threatened to picket the Assembly, if the State government failed to concede their demand for payment of ₹10,000 a month for the loss of livelihood.
The workers under the aegis of CITU, AITUC and IFTU went in a rally to the residence of Tourism Minister Muttamsetti Srinivasa Rao in the city on Sunday and staged a protest demanding payment of compensation to the construction workers. They said that the stoppage of sand mining in the name of change in sand policy, led to sand scarcity for several months before the pandemic broke out.
This and the pandemic had crippled the workers financially. They had demanded payment of ₹10,000 a month to each worker for the loss of livelihood during the pandemic but the State government had taken an adamant stand and declined to pay compensation.
There were adequate funds in the Workers Welfare Board and this could have been paid to the workers. They had also sought payment of rice and other essential commodities. The workers demanded sanction of funds during the ongoing Assembly Session, failing which they would picket the Assembly.
CITU State secretary M. Jaggu Naidu alleged that building construction workers were deprived of their livelihood ever since the YSR Congress Party government came to power about one-and-a-half years ago. He demanded paying of Welfare Board funds for welfare of the construction workers.
AITUC leader Padala Ramana, IFTU State vice president P. Venkateswarlu, Building Construction Workers Union general secretary B. Venkata Rao were among those who participated in the protest.
