THOUSANDS of construction workers including large number of women from all over Haryana thronged the New Subzi Mandi in Fatehabad on January 6 and expressed anguish over the anti-labour policy of the Khattar government of BJP in Haryana. The rally was organised by the Bhawan Nirman Kamgar Union Haryana (BNKU) on the occasion of the working committee meeting of the Construction Workers Federation of India (CWFI) which was held here from January 6-8.

CITU state president Surender Malik and BNKU general secretary Sukhbir Singh while addressing the rally severely criticised the Khattar government for its anti-worker policies and also for creating obstructions in registration of workers under the Welfare Board and in providing benefits of the welfare scheme. They said that the BJP government is seeking to polarise the people in the name of caste and religion and is simultaneously attacking their livelihood. The speakers made a scathing attack on the government for making a regressive amendment  to the Haryana Panchayati Raj Act which takes away the democratic right to contest the election from the most marginalised sections of the society.

AK Padmanabhan, CITU all India president, while addressing the rally reminded that over 15 crore workers and employees observed a strike on September 2 on a 12-point demand charter but the Narendra Modi government at the centre has done nothing in this regard even after four months. He termed the central BJP government an agent of the corporate, against which more struggles are to be launched in the days to come.

Referring to the Pathankot terrorist incident, he said that our prime minister is playing gimmicks while the security of the country is under serious threat. On the one side the cabinet ministers are shouting to teach terrorists a lesson while on the other they are unable to declare that the operation in Pathankot is accomplished even after six days. All the promises made by Narendra Modi to the public during elections have been belied and the government is working against the peoples interests.

Debanjan Chakravarty, general secretary of the CWFI, said that the laws for construction workers were enacted in 1996 after a decade of struggles. Construction Workers Welfare Boards at state level were constituted under this Act for providing benefits but the state governments are rendering them ineffective. He criticised the government for allowing FDI in the construction industry.

The other speakers at the rally included Satbir Singh, CITU state secretary, Desh Raj, president BNKU, Harpal Singh, ex-MLA, Inderjit Singh and Ram Kumar Behabalpuria.