Karnataka - Gulbarga   

Forest Department move to regularise daily wage earners

Special Correspondent

Association head to meet Chief Minister to take similar steps in PWD and zilla panchayats

GULBARGA: The year-long indefinite dharna by the Karnataka State SC and ST Government Daily Wage Employees Association in front of the Deputy Commissioners' office in Gulbarga city, appears to be paying off with the Forest Department initiating steps to regularise nearly 5,000 daily wage earners on their rolls for the past more than 10 years.

Association president Chandrasekhar Hiremath, who had observed an indefinite hunger strike and later gave up on the intervention of Chief Minister N. Dharam Singh, said that according to sources, the Forest Department has initiated steps to collect details of daily wage earners for starting the regularisation process.

However, he said that in PWD and zilla panchayats in the State, over 10,000 daily wage earners were working for the past more than 10 years without any hope of regularisation.

Mr. Hiremath said that he will leave for Bangalore on Friday along with a delegation of office-bearers of the association to meet the Chief Minister and urge him to intervene in the matter and direct both PWD and zilla panchayats to regularise daily wage earners.

Sugarcane crushing

Mr. Hiremath, who is also leading an agitation demanding the revival of the Aland Cooperative Sugar Factory in Aland taluk in Gulbarga district, said that he will urge the Chief Minister to release at least Rs. 25 crores to the factory to begin crushing immediately.

He said there was still time to start the crushing. Even if the factory starts crushing from the fourth week of January, it can crush 1 lakh tonnes of sugarcane. Mr. Hiremath said that the State Government should take a decision soon on starting the crushing in the factory either in the cooperative sector or private sector and save the factory.

Mr Hiremath, who is also the General Secretary of the Kisan and Keth Mazdoor Cell of the KPCC, said that the performance of the Congress in the zilla and taluk panchayat elections under the leadership of Mr. Singh and KPCC President M. Mallikarjun Kharge proved that the Congress was on the comeback trail.

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