Agartala, Aug 06, 2022, TRIPURATIMES Desk

Agartala Aug 06: Centre for Indian Trade Unions (CITU), the left affiliate union of unorganized sector workers on Saturday accused Tripura government of diverting funds meant for welfare of the construction workers for other purposes; something that the organization feels to be against the interests of the lakhs of people engaged in construction work. 
CITU state General Secretary and Former MP Sankar Prasad Datta said, “When the Left Front was in power, a welfare board for the construction workers was instituted and all the builders and contractors awarded projects above Rs 10 lakh had to deposit one percent of the total construction cost in the welfare board. These funds were later used for the welfare of the construction workers. If someone meets an accident during work used to get financial assistance, people get support for further education from the families and other multifaceted financial assistance. Now shockingly, the state government is diverting these huge funds available in the welfare board for other things”. 

Datta also alleged that the state government is unwilling to hike the wages of construction workers in proportionate to the Consumer Price Index (CPI). “When the Left Front was in power, the government used to take prompt actions to raise the wages in every six months based on the rules prescribed under variable dearness allowance. For the last 53 months—ever since the BJP came to power these traditions seem to have eluded. The government is least concerned about these people who are struggling to make both ends meet despite of day-long hard labor”, said Datta while speaking after a rally of the CITU organized here in the state. 

Datta further slammed the Central government for bringing out labour codes where benefits like ESIC, EPF etc are shrunk.