Other States - Orissa   

It's a struggle for work every day

Staff Reporter

Rallies, meetings mark May Day celebrations in the State

PHOTO: ASHOKE CHAKRABARTY

GESTURE OF SOLIDARITY: Activists of Kalinga Utkal Mazdoor Sangha taking out a rally to mark Labour Day in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday.

BHUBANESWAR: As the sun kept rising on Tuesday, desperation was evidently writ large on the face of 35-year-old Jagannath Patra from Ganjam district, who was impatiently trying to make himself available for a day's work at Nayapalli `labourers market' here.

Fifty-year-old Bipra Rao from the same district seemed to be competing with Patra as soon as a labour contractor appeared on the scene. They were not alone. Unable to get work contract, about 300 labourers had to return to their respective homes while luckiest of those went along with their employer for the day.

The scene is not uncommon as daily wageworkers throng several places of the capital city everyday to earn a day's living. And Tuesday, which was International Labour Day, was no exception to their lives.

Have you heard of Labour Day? "I know but I am least concerned about it. We are not getting a day's work everyday and how does the day matter for me," Patra said.

Migration

Many of these labourers have migrated to Bhuabaneswar to get advantage of the booming real estate sector.

Often their labour happens to be precious while most often they prove to be unwanted. "A few days ago on Akshaya Tritya, an auspicious day to commence any work, all labourers were hired and got a day's work.

But when astrologers announce a particular day as unfavourable, employment eludes hundreds of these daily wagers," Patra said.

Incidentally, women folks comprise a sizeable chunk of these labour forces available on the capital city streets. Surama Pradhan, who came with a three-year-old boy, said, "my eldest daughter has now taken over the charge of cooking while I have to toil hard with my husband to sustain our family. We will be happy if we are assured of work everyday." Despite the daily struggle for work in the capital street, several labour unions celebrated the day by taking out rallies and holding public meetings here on Tuesday. All Orissa Trade Union Congress (AITUC) and Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) held a public meeting at the busy Raj Mahal square this evening.

Kalinga Nirman Shramik Sangha, a state-level union of construction workers, took out a rally from Master Canteen Square. They were demanding homestead land for every labourers and they be brought under social security schemes.

Lyrical play

BERHAMPUR: International Labour Day was celebrated by trade unions and several other organisations in the city. The CITU organised a rally in the afternoon, which culminated in a public meeting at Old bus stand square.

The meeting was attended by member of the State secretariat of CPI (M) Ali Kishore Panda, district CPI(M) secretary Kalu Panda among others.

The meeting was followed by the enactment of `sahsranada', a lyrical play, showing vagaries of capitalism and globalisation in the traditional `geetinatya' format of Orissa.

AITUC activists also organised a similar rally and a public meeting at Ramlingam tank road. AITUC vice-president of Dutikrushna Panda and Chatrapur MLA N. Narayan Reddy attended the meeting.

Members of the women's wing of JCI club distributed clothes, T-shirts and caps to rickshaw pullers of the city at Badabazar area to mark the day.

The employees' union of power distribution company, Southco, also held a meeting at Sahid Laxman Nayak hall.

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