Port Blair, Jan 16: At the call given by the CITU Andaman & Nicobar State Committee, hundreds of workers participated in the Victory Processions all over the union territory of Andaman & Nicobar Islands today (16.01.2023) to celebrate the Court case won by the Andaman Sarvajanik Nirman Vibhag Mazdoor Sangh (ASNVMS), affiliated to CITU, in the Calcutta High Court on the 1/30th of pay plus DA case to all the Daily Rated Mazdoors.

At Port Blair, the Victory Procession began from Tiranga Park, Aberdeen Bazar which after making a round of the Port Blair town converged into a public meeting at Tiranga Park. Hundreds of Workers from various trade unions functioning at Port Blair participated in the victory procession.  Addressing the public meeting, B. Chandrachoodan, General Secretary, CITU State Committee said that the Division Bench of the High Court at Calcutta (Port Blair Circuit Bench) in their judgment on 19th December, 2022 had directed that all the daily rated mazdoors working under the Andaman & Nicobar Administration should be  extended the financial benefits under the  1/30th of pay plus Scheme of the A&N Administration formulated in September, 2017 without  linking it with sanctioned post/vacant posts, etc. He said that the Court also ordered that the workers be given the benefit from September, 2017 within two months from the date of judgment. He traced the valiant struggles conducted by the CITU during the last 30 years because of which the 2017 scheme was formulated by the Administration. R. Surendran Pillai, President CITU State Committee, who presided over the meeting, called upon the workers to remain united to conduct more struggles in case the Government did not implement the court order.  Addressing the public meeting D. Ayyappan, Vice President, CITU State Committee explained in brief the failure of the BJP-led government at the Centre to solve the power, water and communication problems of these islands. SP Kalairajan, Shipra Bala and MV Yugander, Secretaries of CITU State Committee also addressed the meeting.  M. Boominathan, BC Bhattacherjee, NKP Nair, Vice Presidents and P. Sathyapal and Anand Rajan, Secretaries of CITU State Committee were also present at the public meeting. 

At Diglipur, Victory Procession was taken out in the Diglipur bazaar  which  culminated into a public meeting.  The programme was led by Ramjeeban Sarkar, Vice President, AIKS, S. Arummugam of NGOs Association, Sunil Bepari, Vice President and Barun Biswas Secretary of CITU Diglipur Zonal Committee.  A large number of workers participated in the Victory Procession.  At Rangat, Victory Procession was taken out in the Rangat Bazar which culminated in a  meeting in front of the office of the Assistant Commissioner which was addressed by Projit Kumar Sarkar, President and C.Karuppaiah, Secretary of CITU Rangat Zonal Committee. A large number of workers from APWD and Electricity Department participated in the programme. At Hut Bay, a large number of  APWD workers assembled in front of the Executive Engineer’s office and staged mass demonstration which was led by P. Rajesh.  At Katchal,  the APWD workers  staged mass demonstration in front of the APWD office  which was led by  Rajesh Khanna.