People's Democracy
(Weekly Organ of the Communist Party of India
(Marxist)
|
Vol. XXXVI
No.
06
February
05, 2012
|
WEST BENGAL
Salary Delay Forces Worker
to Commit Suicide
ONE Vikram
Singh of
Kolkata Tramways Corporation recently committed suicide due to a
financial
crisis, as workers of five public transport corporations in West
Bengal
have not received their salaries for the past four months. The reason
is that
the state government, led by Ms Mamata Banerjee, has stopped giving
assistance
to the road transport corporations in order to pave the way for
privatisation
of transport sector in West Bengal.
One recalls
that the
erstwhile Left Front government had been providing about 400 crores of
rupees
to these corporations every year for their efficient functioning, and
that as a
result these corporations had been charging from the public the lowest
fares in
India.
But the new state government has stopped the said financial assistance
and 18,000
workers have been denied their salaries for the last four months.
Pension and
pensionary benefits too are not being paid at present. One of the
pensioners,
in a dire strait as a result, committed suicide last month.
In Kerala
too, the erstwhile
Left Democratic Front government had provided more than Rs 600 crore to
the
public sector transport and given employment to 22,000 new workers
through the public
service commission. The corporation, which was sinking when the LDF
came to
power in 2006, was also expanded by providing it 1,000 new buses every
year. The
Kerala government also wrote off loans worth Rs 1,070 crore during the
time of the
LDF regime.
In relation
to West Bengal, through a statement
issued from
Thiruvananthapuram on January 28 by its general secretary K K
Divakaran, the
All India Road Transport Workers Federation (AIRTEF) has extended
support to the
agitation of transport workers of the
state and urged the chief minister to ensure them payment
of pending
salary and pensionery benefits. The federation has also demanded
compensation
to the family of the workers who have committed suicide. It is also of
the
opinion that the chief minister must take action against her transport
minister
as it is the steps taken by him that compelled the workers to commit
suicide.