LAKHS OF WORKERS COURT ARREST

LAKHS OF WORKERS COURT ARREST

Lakhs of workers all over the country responded magnificently to the call of the central trade unions to court arrest protesting against the apathetic attitude of the government towards the ten major demands repeatedly raised by the entire trade union movement since the last more than three years. Workers in thousands organised demonstrations, sit ins, rail and road roko programmes in various parts of the country and courted arrest on 18th and 19th December. Reports received from some states as we go to the press are given below:

In West Bengal, around 107000 workers participated in the demonstrations and courted arrest in almost all the district headquarters. In Kolkata alone, more than 25000 workers courted arrest.

In Andhra Pradesh, jail bharo programme was held in all the 23 districts in the state on both 18th and 19th December. On 18th December, more than 21000 workers courted arrest in 186 centres. CITU members participated in large numbers. 3885 workers were arrested on the day. On 19th December, around 8500 workers in 177 centres courted arrest with a large participation of CITU members. Around 700 were arrested. Dharnas, picketing of tehsildars’ offices, road blockades on national highways, gherao of district collectors’ offices, processions, protest demonstrations, rallies, burning of effigies etc were held all over the state before courting of arrest. In Hyderabad 2000 workers in 13 zones participated in the programme organising rasta rokos in two industrial areas. Sudha Bhaskar, general secretary of the state committee of CITU was arrested in Hyderabad while the other office bearers of the CITU state committee courted arrest in different district headquarters. 3000 workers in the industrial area of Medak district courted arrest.

Assam – As per reports more than 30000 workers courted arrest at the district headquarters on 18th December. In Kerala massive demonstrations were held in all the 140 assembly constituencies in the state in which workers from all the trade unions involved in the campaign participated. It is to be noted that in Kerala, several state level unions, in addition to the central trade unions, are jointly conducting the campaign for the 20 – 21 February 2013 country wide general strike.

Uttar Pradesh – Hundreds of workers courted arrest in the state in several district headquarters including Kanpur, Varanasi, Bulandshahr, Saharanpur, Lucknow, Chandauli and Juanpur. In Lucknow, a two day dharna was organised in front of the Vidhan Sabha in which employees from state and central government departments, insurance, bank BSNL and unorganised sector workers participated.

Maharashtra - Thousands of workers in different district headquarters and industrial centres – at Mumbai, Nagpur, Solapur, Nasik, Pune, Kolhapur, Aurangabad, Jalna, Wardha, Ichalkaranji, Sangli, Igatpuri, Talasari etc – brought out rallies; staged demonstrations in front of collectorates; resorted to road blockade; and courted arrest on 19 December. 10,000 strong rally was held at Solapur, led by CITU state president Narasaiyya Adam. CITU general secretary Dr D L Karad led the rally at Nasik. Participation of women; middle class employees of central and state governments, insurance and bank; and unorganized sector workers from beedi, construction, Anganwadi, asha etc were significant. At some places peasants and agricultural workers including adibasis also joined in large numbers.

In Tamil Nadu, hundreds of workers in Chennai and several other railway stations held a rail roko and courted arrest. Workers belonging to the central trade unions courted arrest in almost all the district headquarters on 18th December.

Jharkhand - On 18 December, CITU led demonstrations of thousands of workers in front of DLC offices at Sahebganj, Pakur and Jamshedpur and courted arrest. At Adityapur, hundreds of workers, led by CITU and BMS, resorted to road blockade when police arrested them. In Ranchi, thousands of workers marched to Raj Bhawan and blocked the road in front of Raj Bhawan for 4 hours. But the administration did not arrest. 50,000 joint leaflets were printed for the programme. It was decided to organise joint conventions at district and industrial area level and to hold 200 public meetings jointly all over the state for the success of the strike. The peasants will organise rail roko, rasta roko in support of the strike

Odisha - More than 20000 workers and employees courted arrest throughout the state on 18th and 19th December in different district and industrial centres and in the state capital Bhubaneswar. At State Capital Bhubaneswar more than one thousand workers led by CITU, AITUC, HMS, INTUC, AICCTU, and AIUTUC, took out a colourful procession from Railway Station to State Assembly and courted arrest in front of the state assembly. Sivaji Patnaik, vice president of Odisha state committee of CITU was among those arrested in Bhubaneswar. CITU mobilised thousands of workers in Sundergarh district where around 10000 workers courted arrest in different mines including Koida, Rajamunda, Banei, Lahtikata, Vedvyas, where Bishnu Mohanty, general secretary of the Odisha state committee of CITU was arrested. Lambodar Nayak, president of the state committee of CITU was arrested in Khurda. CITU members actively participated in the jail bharo movement in Baleswar, Cuttack, Barbil, Angul, Puri, Nayagarh, Bhadrak, Paradeep, Jagatsingpur, Jajpur etc. The office bearers of the state committee of CITU participated in these different places and were arrested.

Jammu and Kashmir - The CITU state committee organised jail bharo on 19th December in Jammu in which large number of ASHAs, anganwadi employees, railway loading and unloading workers, coal workers, construction workers, hydro power project workers, etc marched in a procession from Vikram chowk and courted arrest at the Indira chowk. Tarigami, MLA and president, Om Prakash, general secretary, Sham Prasad Kesar, treasurer of the state committee of CITU along with the other office bearers of the state committee of CITU participated in the courting arrest programme.

Punjab - The call of jail bharo received unprecedented response from the workers in Punjab. Over 20000 workers organised chakka jam at around 20 places in Punjab and Chandigarh on 18th December at the call of the central trade unions and industrial federations and courted arrest. Brick kiln workers, transport workers, forest workers, MNREGA, construction workers, anganwadi employees, ASHAs, mid day meal workers and other sections of workers participated in the programme in almost all the districts in the state. Vijay Mishra, president and Raghunath Singh, general secretary along with the other office bearers of the state committee of CITU participated in the courting arrest in different centres.

Karnataka - Jail bharo was held in around 20 districts in the state. In some districts like Tumkur, Mysore, Chitradurga, Bellary, Hasan, Chickballapur, Raichur, Koppala, Udupi etc demonstrations were held in several taluks also and workers courted arrest at the taluk level. Anganwadi employees, panchayat workers, mid day meal workers, medical representatives, beedi workers and others participated in large numbers in the programme. In Bangalore, around 1000 workers participated in the demonstration and 400 of them were arrested.

Manipur - The coordinating body of trade unions, Manipur, a conglomerate of unions affiliated to the central trade unions and independent trade unions in Manipur organised a two days programme on 18 – 19 December 2012, as per the call of the central trade unions and industrial federations. A meeting of the trade unions was held on 8th December 2012 to plan the programme. As per the decision of this meeting, street corner meetings were organised in and around Imphal city on 18th December. 10000 leaflets were printed and distributed and joint meetings were held. In three special street corner meetings, loud speakers were used to cover the entire market area and attracted the rural and urban population, particularly the women workers and street vendors. On 19th December, a protest law violation meeting was held in Imphal but the administration under direct intervention from the home department did not permit the use of loud speakers as it was the first day of the winter session of the state assembly. Around 500 participated in this meeting, which unanimously resolved to organise more meetings all over the state including in towns and villages and far flung remote areas in all district to popularise the demands of the 20 – 21 February 2013 countrywide general strike.