The Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC) State unit celebrated the International labour Day here. Former MP Dr Rama Chandra Khuntia presided.
Attending as chief guest, Pradesh Congress Chief president Prasad Harichandan said the NDA Government at the Centre headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has virtually declared a war against the working class.
He observed that the Modi Government was very active to extend undue benefits to the corporate houses at the cost of the working class. Prasad further said that the BJD Government in the State had been neglecting 1.5 crore unorganized workers, by not implementing the Unorganized Social Security Act, 2008 enacted by the UPA Government.
He pointed out that due to utter failure of the Naveen Patnaik Government, lakhs of workers from Odisha are migrating to other States in search of work. He expressed that the Congress would strongly support the working class in its struggle for achievement of its genuine demands and appealed to the workers to fight the anti-labour policies of the Union and State Governments.
leader of Opposition Narasingha Mishra attending as chief speaker expressed his concern over the fact that the gap between the rich and the poor in our country as well as in Odisha was growing day by day. He called upon the workers to fight unitedly to end exploitation.
Dr Khuntia in his address spoke about the significance of the May Day. He said that neither the Central Government nor the State Government was paying a single pie for the welfare of the building and other construction workers. He criticized the Odisha Government for spreading a false propaganda that it was giving all benefits to the construction workers. He declared that the INTUC will continue its struggle till pension and other social security benefits were extended to all unorganized workers in the State.
Kishore Jena, Harish Gaurang, Sandhya Mohapatra, Madan Mohan Dhal, Shyamsundar Mohapatra, Pranati Mishra and Satyabrata Nayak spoke among others.