Expressing concern over the plight of the workers of the closed Tummapala sugar factory, JSP president Pawan Kalyan has questioned the right of the Chief Minister to seek another term.
Continuing his Uttarandhra Porata Yatra on Tuesday, Mr. Pawan Kalyan addressed a public meeting at Anakapalle, met the workers, and demanded that the factory be reopened in four to six weeks. At the public meeting, he said, owing to the closure of the factory, 17 workers had died – 10 due to lack of any support and seven after falling ill.
‘YSRCP indifferent’
He charged the Opposition YSR Congress Party with being indifferent to the issue, and said the government would have acted had the Leader of the Opposition, Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, cornered it in the Assembly.
Mr. Pawan Kalyan said Anakapalle MP M. Srinivasa Rao did not bother to check the activities of MLA Peela Govinda Satyanarayana, he alleged.
The JSP president demanded that the State government make public the report of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) that probed the land scandals.
The ‘Clean AP’, to which the Chief Minister made frequent references, was visible nowhere. Illegal quarrying was going on unabated, though the Minister hailed from the region. Illegal mining would lead to environmental pollution. It caused kidney diseases among 20 persons at Mondipalem nearby, he alleged.
He asserted that the JSP would form the government in 2019 and put an end to illegal quarrying.
Welfare fund
Interacting with the workers of the sugar factory, he said the government was indifferent to the plight of the workers, who were without wages for the last 40 months. He announced a contribution of ₹2 lakh to their welfare fund.
Promising to stand by the workers, who said they would stage a ‘deeksha’ if the government did not act before the deadline, Mr. Pawan Kalyan claimed that the Chief Minister hurriedly convened a meeting to discuss the issue only after he announced to meet the workers.
The workers said 17,500 families of 149 villages depended on the factory. The farmers and workers were going through severe hardship since the factory’s closure 40 months ago. An investment of ₹160 crore would help modernise the factory, they said.
Even jaggery for the ‘Chandranna Kanuka’ was purchased from Gujarat at a higher rate, they alleged.
Meets Dadi
Mr. Pawan also met former Minister Dadi Veerabhadra Rao at his residence and greeted him on his birthday, and invited him to join JSP.
Mr. Rao later said in a statement that he would discuss with his supporters and take a decision.
