In response to the call for a nationwide strike given by the Joint Committee of Trade Unions (JCTU) to press for the fulfilment of various demands, members and office-bearers of various organisations staged protests in Hubballi and Dharwad on Friday.
JCTU has given a call seeking regularisation of frontline staff engaged in the fight against COVID-19, direct transfer of ₹7,500 monthly for six months to those outside the ambit of income tax, corona incentive for others, extending the number of person days under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act to 200, as well as extending the scheme to urban areas, and supply of ration to the labour class for six months, among other things.
In Dharwad, the protesters gathered outside the office of the Deputy Commissioner and raised slogans against the Union government for its “failure to mitigate the sufferings of the common man”.
Addressing the protesters, Stephen Jayachandra of the Bank Employees’ Association and Gangadhar Badiger of All-India Trade Union Congress condemned in strong terms the failure of the State and the Centre in handling the fight against COVID-19. The protesters subsequently submitted to the district administration a memorandum addressed to the Prime Minister.
In Hubballi
Under the banner of of JCTU, members of various organisations staged a demonstration in front of the Mini-Vidhana Soudha and called for remedial measures to help citizen, particularly the working class.
The protesters alleged that the State and Union governments had failed to uphold their own orders pertaining to the working class and had once again proved to be pro-capitalist and pro-industrialist. Submitting a memorandum addressed to the Prime Minister through the Hubballi tahsildar, they demanded immediate steps to mitigate the sufferings of the common man who has been badly affected the COVID-19-induced lockdown which they said had resulted in loss of livelihood for crores of people.