VELLORE: Members attached to the leather tanning and leather products workers union affiliated to the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) staged a demonstration in front of the taluk office in Ambur on Thursday, demanding government to take over the Common Effluent Treatment Plants (CETP).
State general secretary of the union S R Devadoss said that the demonstration was to mark the World Environment day and “We wanted the people and the administrators to know about the plight of the workers in the tanning industry on this day.”
Devadoss said that a large number of workers attached to tanneries and the Common Effluent Treatment Plants were jobless at present, after the Tamilnadu Pollution Control Board had closed down some of the tanneries and the CETPs following complaints of pollution from the residents of some areas.
Further Devadoss said, if the Common Effluent Treatment Plants were found to be polluting despite the government extending funds for technology and pollution control equipment, it was time that these units should be taken over by the government. This would not only prevent pollution from these units but would also ensure job guarantee for the work force.
The government should also intervene and arrange for salaries for the workers, who had lost their jobs in these units, he added.
Joint secretary of the Communist party of India (taluk unit) K S Hasen and other office bearers of various trade unions participated in the demonstration.