The Andhra Pradesh government’s new liquor policy has turned out to be the bane of nearly 2,000 employees of the United Breweries unit at Ranasthalam in Srikakulam district.
The company has reduced its production significantly because of lack of orders from the government.
According to sources, the company used to produce six lakh bottles of the Kingfisher and other brands per day till 2019.
The YSRCP government that had come to power later brought out a policy that aimed at imposing prohibition in a phased manner.
As a part of its policy, it has started encouraging new brands, which is proving to be disadvantageous to the products being rolled out by the UB.
Representatives of the company had reportedly approached the government many a time to win back the orders in vain.
With only a few orders from Odisha, Telangana and other States, the UB unit, with a view to minimising losses, has not only reduced its production but also laid off nearly 1,000 workers, which is causing consternation among others.
“The workers are now rendered ineligible for Provident Fund and ESI medical facility as they are hardly working for 10 days in a month,” said CITU State vice-president D. Govinda Rao.
Protests planned
“All the workers, along with their family members, will stage protests from July 1 to 3 in a bid to draw the attention of the government to their plight,” said Ch. Ammannaidu, a CITU leader.
He said the relay hunger strike being staged on the premises of the company for the last three days would continue.
‘Why bias?’
“We are ready to lose our jobs if the government imposes a complete ban on liquor consumption in the State. But the government is encouraging new brands and stopped giving orders only to our company,” lamented I. Narayana Rao and J. Gangaraju, leaders of the United Breweries Workers’ Union (affiliated to CITU).
“The new policy has made our lives miserable. Earlier, we used to draw nearly ₹12,000 per month. But now, we are hardly drawing ₹4,000 per month, which is not sufficient even to pay house rent and power bills,” said Ch. Prabhkar, another union leader.