Kerala - Kannur   

Services sector facing privatisation threat: Kodiyeri

By Our Staff Reporter

KANNUR, MARCH 6. The CPI(M) deputy legislature party leader, Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, today said that the ongoing drive for privatisation of vital sectors in the country would soon bring even the service sector under private control.

Addressing the district conference of the Kerala Gazetted Officers' Association (KGOA) here, Mr. Balakrishnan said that India was perhaps the only country to have a Minister to oversee disinvestment of public sector undertakings, including those in the vital sectors.

Collective struggles by workers and employees today were not for raising new demands but to protect their existing benefits, he said.

Referring to the Supreme Court judgment banning strikes by Government employees, he said that steps unheard of even during Emergency were being taken to enforce the judgment passed by the two-member Bench. The judgment amounted to an infringement of the Constitutional rights, he said adding that the workers and employees had the right to make collective bargaining and to strike.

Everywhere in the world, the character of a Government would reflect in that country's judiciary, legislature and executive, Mr. Balakrishnan said. The CPI(M) leader said that no Government could enforce a judgment that went against the will of the people.

Stating that the UDF Government was also following the privatisation policy of the Central Government, he said the Government had scrapped 17,000 posts.

The `anti-people' and `anti-employees' attitude of the Government was a continuation of its policies that had already hit the traditional sectors, he added. Despite the assurance of the UDF Government, the economy of the State was yet to improve, he said adding that non-Plan expenditure of the Government was on the increase.

Mr. Balakrishnan said that the people had already started bearing the brunt of the policies of the Government.

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