Members of the Samyukta Kissan Morcha, Joint Platform of Central Trade Union and Independent Sectorial Federation staged a sit-in on Friday, demanding authorities to restore peace through political dialogue along Irabot road, Imphal.
The protestors put forth several demands drawing the attention of the authorities to waive loans for farmers, give minimum support price to farmers, make scheme workers status equal to grade 4 employees, not to privatise bank/insurance/postal sectors, deploy highway protection force among others.
Speaking to the media on the sidelines of the protest, general secretary of All India Trade Union Congress L Sotinkumar expressed discontentment over the failure of the state and central BJP government to rein in the Manipur turmoil even after nine months.
“The people should not push a BJP representative in the upcoming Lok Sabha election as they just observe the proceedings of the Parliament and fail to table anything concrete in the parliament,” he said.
He expressed suspicion that the Central government was intentionally instigating the kuki militants to break the territorial integrity of Manipur. He further stated that rights of citizens were being grossly violated under the BJP regime.
“Daily wage workers are protesting the enactment of anti worker law,” he added.
He pointed out that the fates of farmers were put in the hands of the corporate, allowing them to monopolize profits in various sectors. He demanded authorities to waiver loans of the farmers and make farming commodities available at Minimum Support Price.
He further demanded to fix the minimum wage of workers at Rs 26,000 per month and daily wages of MGNREGS workers to Rs 600.
The protesters also demanded authorities to channelise food security act properly, implement Street Vendor Act 2013 and implement the old pension scheme.
