SAMBALPUR: Kendu leaf pluckers have decided to gherao the PCCF’s office at Aranya Bhawan in Bhubaneswar on October 14, urging him to fulfill their demands, including hike in monthly wages.
At a preparatory meeting held on Saturday, the pluckers from Rairakhol, Boudh and Athmallik divisions, under the banner of Odisha Kendupatra Karmachari Sangha (OKKS), announced that around 2,000 workers from these three divisions alone will join the demonstration. Union leaders said that workers across Odisha are expected to participate in large numbers.
The major demands include raising the monthly wages of seasonal workers in line with the minimum wages declared by the state government, implementation of the marriage assistance scheme for daughters of workers, increase in per-bundle wages for binders, enforcement of the CM’s announced financial support of Rs 460 and Rs 700 for pluckers and binders and revision of Kendu leaf Development Board (KLDB) provisions, among others.
Union president Bijay Mohanty said, “For years, kendu leaf workers have been promised fair wages and welfare schemes, but most remain only on paper. If our voices are ignored again, we will be left with no option but to intensify our agitation.”
The meeting, presided over by Mohanty, was attended by vice-presidents Gokul Meher and Binod Pradhan, state organising secretary Sanjit Mohanty, general secretary Mohammed Murtuza and Rairakhol division secretary Kishore Pradhan, among others.