HARYANA ROADWAYS WORKERS STRIKE

CITU congratulates 18000 Haryana Roadways Workers for their successful strike action on 31st March 2010 against the increase in the prices of diesel and petrol and also against privatization of state transport routes through issuance of 2699 permits to private operators.

The strike call was given by Haryana Roadways Workers (Affiliated to All India Road Workers’ Federation, CITU) and Haryana Transport Karmachari Union. The strike was hundred percent successful as not even a single state transport bus plied on the Haryana road since early morning of 31.03.2010. Administration tried to break the strike through terrorizing tactics and number of leading roadways workers were arrested in Faridabad, Sonepat and other centers.

CITU urges upon the Haryana government to take a lesson from this massive united strike action by the roadways workers and refrain from issuing permits to private operators on the Haryana roadways routes.

CITU also urges upon the Central Government to withdraw the increase in taxes and duties on crude oil and petrol/diesel leading to hike in prices of petrol and diesel.

CPIM demands Judicial inquiry into Hyderabad communal riots

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has demanded a judicial inquiry into the circumstances leading to the communal riots in Hyderabad.

CPI (M) State secretary B.V. Raghavulu, addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, said that the situation had deteriorated to such an extent that a curfew had to be imposed in the old city. Though the situation was extremely grave, the police and the State government were playing the role of spectator, he alleged.

It had come out that the attacks were being made in a planned manner with the “conspirators” sending SMSs to different areas, he said.

The CPI (M) leader said no action was taken though there were early indications of trouble during Sriramanavami and Milad-un-nabi. He sought to know what the intelligence wing was doing.

Since there was a failure on the part of the police too, only a judicial inquiry would bring out the truth. It was the responsibility of the State government to make public the names of the conspirators. The Government was taking a ‘meditative and spiritual posture' towards all the problems the people were facing, he alleged.

Mr. Raghavulu made an appeal to the public to participate in large numbers in the picketing and jail bharo programmes of the Left parties and its allies on April 8 to register their protest against the indifference of the State and Central governments towards the issue of continuous rise in the prices of essential commodities.

Quoting figures, he said that the Central government came up with a budget to increase prices putting indirect burden to the tune of Rs. 45,000 crore on the people. On the other hand it reduced the subsidy on food and increased burden on the poor.

It became evident in the re-surveys conducted by the officials that ration cards were being weeded out to reduce the number of cards. A large portion of the cards that were weeded out were genuine. 

(Courtesy : The Hindu)

Extend PDS to all: CPI(M)

 State secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) V.G.K. Nair has said that the party's State unit will participate in a ‘jail bharo' agitation along with other Left parties on April 8. It will coincide with similar protests across the country.

Addressing party workers here on Tuesday, Mr. Nair said that food for all citizens under the public distribution system was a major demand of the party. Stating that universal PDS was the only way to protect the people from the price rise and the global economic slowdown, he said, “If each and every Indian family avails itself of food through the PDS, the total annual cost will work out to only Rs. 3 lakh crore.” Pointing out that industry got tax exemptions worth Rs. 5 lakh crore during the last fiscal, Mr. Nair said that the Centre was unnecessarily favouring corporate interests.The state government funding mutts and temples in crores has no solution to problem of hungry common man in its agenda. There is need to alert the government to strive for hunger- free society, said V J K Nair.

Mr. Nair said that the food stocks with the Government were likely to touch 60 million tonnes by June this year. “It costs the Government Rs. 600 crore to maintain these reserve stocks,” he said. He said that the BJP-led State Government too had done very little in this regard. “What happened to the BJP's election promise that it would provide 35 kg of rice to every BPL family at Rs. 2 a kg?”

(Courtesy : The Hindu)