RAJAHMUNDRY: Rajya Sabha member and AICC secretary V Hanumantha Rao on Monday demanded that the Puducherry government initiate steps to reopen the crisis-struck Regency Ceramics Limited (RCL) at Yanam immediately. He also demanded compensation to the family of the deceased union leader, M Murali Mohan, and the workers injured in the lathicharge and firing.
Speaking to reporters here, Hanumantha Rao said hundreds of workers would be on the roads if the factory was not reopened. “Labour department of Puducherry government failed miserably to solve the long-pending problem between the management and workers. The demand for reopening of the factory will be taken to the notice of Union minister Mallikarjun Kharge,” he said.
The MP questioned as to why the Puducherry government had not responded properly to the incident which attracted nation-wide attention.
“Even the AP police and fire services departments did not respond despite the rampage on a massive scale. According to Puducherry officials, human and property loss in such a large scale could have been averted if the AP police had responded in time,” the AICC secretary averred.
These issues would be taken up with chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy and home minister P Sabitha Indra Reddy, he said. Expressing doubts over the factory management’s attitude towards the workers’ union for the past two decades, Hanumantha Rao alleged that when an SC employee started a union, the management killed him.
“The brutal attack on factory president (operations) KC Chandrasekhar should also be condemned by everyone,” he said. He pointed out that the RCL, which is running educational institutions, is not maintaining a hospital or even an ambulance for the safety of its workers, which was against norms. Salaries were not being paid to workers for two months. At least now the management should to pay the salaries, he said.