HUNDREDS of milk producers under the banner of Himachal Pradesh Dudh Utpadak Sangh(Milk Producers Association) held a massive demonstration in Duttnagar, in Rampur subdivision, under Shimla district. On March 7, the milk producers, mostly women, gathered in front of the Duttnagar office of Himachal Milk Processing Centre and submitted a memorandum through the sub-divisional officer to the chief minister of the state. The major demand is for an enhanced support price for milk at Rs 40 per litre.

WORKERS at the Shongtong Karcham Hydropower Project, under the banner of CITU, have been on strike for the past four months but the government and the local administration remain insensitive to their just and genuine demands. The workers are demanding that labour laws be implemented. But the administration and the government are on the side of the contractors who are not paying minimum wages, overtime and tunnel allowances to the workers and not depositing provident fund contribution. A worker is losing out Rs 5,000-7,000 per month on account of denial of their rights by the contractors.

The following is the statement issued by the Himachal Pradesh state committee of the CPI(M).

THE Himachal Pradesh state secretariat of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has strongly condemned the despotic state government run by the Congress party for its midnight scoop on September 20, in which it lifted eight protesting girls from the HPU campus. This shows the desperation in which the government is working in connivance with the HPU authorities to cow down the popular voice of the students who are protesting against the phenomenally large increase in the fees of various courses in the undergraduate and post graduate.