PANJIM, DEC 17
There will be no celebration of any kind for many of the contract workers from some of the Government Departments on the occasion of Goa’s 50th Liberation Day on December 19 as they have decided to gather in the capital city to impress upon the authorities to free them from what that they term “bonded” labour.
Contract workers largely from the Public Works and Electricity departments will assemble in Panjim, while those from Goa Medical College and Hospital will gather in Bambolim to highlight the exploitative contract system.
Addressing a press conference on Friday morning, All India Trade Union Congress General Secretary Christopher Fonseca lambasted Chief Minister and the labour authorities for turning a blind eye to the problems of the working class in the State.
Highlighting the plight of contract workers, Fonseca accused the Government of committing a fraud by paying them pitiful minimum wage much below the national average.
“Worse is major part of the rightful DA (dearness allowance) was not given every month thus depriving them of a fair wage,” he observed.
He pointed out some of the big mining companies too were taking full advantage of the contract system and exploiting workers. Besides causing environmental degradation, these companies were not maintaining proper working conditions and the Government is afraid of them as they are a law unto themselves, he ridiculed.
Fonseca warned the day was not far when these workers from far flung places of Goa will think of lifting arms against their oppressors as was the case with groups like Naxalites and Maoists. In Goa, if not Maoism and Naxalism, there sure is a new wave of turbulence taking shape, he stated.
REGIONAL PLAN: The AITUC General Secretary maintained the thriving real estate lobby had a big say in the Regional Plan 2021 that had thrown up many anomalies. There are many loopholes and potholes in the plan, he mentioned.
So what, he argued, if highly placed people have designed the plan. “One has to see and evaluate what is there in it for the ‘common man’, a coinage which is at the heart of this Government. The authorities should keep the plans for scrutiny before notifying them; what’s the hurry,” he asserted.
