HCC employees to protest against Centre on May 7
New Delhi : The employees of Hindustan Construction Company Limited (HCC) are going to stage a protest against the wrong policies of the Central Government on May 7 at Delhi's iconic Ramlila Maidan. Several opposition parties like Congress, Aam Admi Party (AAP), TMC, SP and other trade unions are going to join the protesters in their agitation against the Centre.
The chief secretary of the union has informed that Union Government has not cleared the dues which are in thousands of crores. As a result, several projects are on the verge of getting shut and nearly 10000 employees are staring at getting unemployed. If the government doesn't clear the dues on time, then several projects will be shut and employees will be laid off. These employees who are facing job insecurity are finding it hard to run their families as well.
The national president of the union, Shri Dipankar Mitra, informed that almost 90 percent of national projects, including hydropower projects, national highways, nuclear power projects, metro rail, thermal power plants, etc. are being undertaken by this company.
The general secretary of Federation of All India Hindustan Construction Workers Union, Shri Sunil Sarkar said that NHAI, NHPC, and several other Central Government undertakings have a total pending due of Rs 8943 crore. NHAI has to pay Rs 4157, while NHPC and other Central government undertakings are supposed to pay Rs 4786 crore. Despite the recommendations of mediation forum and court orders, the government hasn't yet cleared the dues. Due to this, the HCC is facing an acute financial crisis.
Union's general secretary has informed that repeated requests to the PMO and Union Labour Ministry haven't yielded any desirable results to the HCC. He further informed that the pace of projects on which HCC is looking after are either running at snail's pace or have already been stopped due to delay in the payment.
The union has also regretted that the government hasn't taken any step to help those who went jobless due to non-payment of dues. The projects which are under process are also facing the crisis due to unavailability of funds and company couldn't pay the employees their salaries on time.
Sarkar informed that they will protest against the adverse and non-cooperative behaviour of the Central Government, the HCC in association with major opposition parties will agitate on May 7. He further added that the not just HCC employees, in fact, the entire construction sector is affected due to this.
Regional secretary Krishna Lal Arya said that the company, in association with various trade unions they met with the officials at PMO and Labour Ministry in 2016 and 2017 and raised the concerns of the construction industry i.e. shortage of funds, and sacking of employees. But nothing has been done to address their problems and they now have only one option i.e. protest.
He rued if necessary steps are being not taken and policies revamped, then several construction companies will end up losing important projects and thousands of employees will go jobless.
