SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad, Feb 11: The activists of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) on Friday sat on relay hunger stir at the gate of Hindustan Urvarak Rasayan Limited (HURL) Sindri for 75% job to local people as per guidelines of the Jharkhand government.
Ramu Mandal, the president of the Jharkhand Colliery Mazdoor Union (JCMU) Sindri branch, said that since the HURL management did not take cognizance of the 14 days old dharna of the JMM, the party has decided to turn it into a relay hunger stir from today (Friday) to mount pressure on the management.
HURL Sindri is scheduled to start production from next month if all goes as per the plan of the local management.
“Since the district administration has imposed Section 144 in the surrounding area of HURL, only five people have sat on hunger strike under the banner of JCMU,” said Ramu Mandal to media persons before starting the hunger stir.
HURL is the consortium of four public sector units including Fertilizer Corporation of India (FCI), Coal India Limited (CIL), National Thermal Power Corporation NTPC) Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and would produce 3,850 tonnes of neem coated urea per day.
Mandal said that since the management is not interested in resolving the matter through talks, they have compelled the JCMU to turn dharna into a relay hunger strike for the implementation of state government guidelines in recruitment.
HURL Sindri general manager Kameswar Jha, on the other hand, declined to comment on the charge of instigating the JMM trade union leaders and their hunger strike. He informed reporters that when it comes to recruitment, the local administration has no authority over it.
However, the HURL management is committed to follow the guidelines of the state government and has already provided jobs to local people in water supply, electric maintenance, housekeeping, security and other departments.
