Int’l Labour Day celebrated
HAPOLI, 2 May: “Dignity can be achieved only through hard work,” said Agriculture Minister Tage Taki during the celebration of the International Labour Day at the Abotani Hall here in Lower Subansiri district on 1 May.
Addressing a gathering comprising over 1,000 workers, besides HoDs, and executive members of the All Arunachal Pradesh Workers’ Union (AAPWU), Taki described labourers as “the core of any work,” adding that “everyone should believe in the dignity of labour.”
He exhorted the workforce to be sincere and dedicated to any task assigned to them, and said that “the present governments at the Centre and the state are equally empathetic to the needs of the working class.”
Highlighting the Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana, which provides an insurance cover of Rs 2 lakhs at a premium of Rs 12 per annum, Taki said that workers registered with the AAPWU can avail the benefit.
Responding to a memorandum submitted by the AAPWU’s district president Rubu Tadii, requesting for “no political interference in identifying false labourers and their subsequent termination,” the minister said that he would support the initiative “if the cases of false labourers are identified without any malafide intentions.”
ADC Millo Kojin urged the labourers to take pride in their work, stating that they are an inseparable part of the process of development.
DSP Tasi Darang emphasised the need to check the antecedents of the labourers coming from other parts of the country, and to maintain proper documents.
Tadii submitted a four-point memorandum to the minister, seeking a 15-unit bachelor labourers’ barrack in Old Ziro or Hapoli; construction of an AAPWU office; “identification of hidden and unproductive labourers and their termination”; and on-time conduct of DPC meetings for the contractual employees in all the departments.
AAPWU spokesperson Tembi Geyi Lendo highlighted the maternity and childcare leave provisions for contractual workers, and requested the women workers to be aware of their rights at workplace.
AAPWU western zone general secretary Tadar Cheku spoke about “the recruitment rules for MTS and the need for manpower rationalisation in the departments, besides timely disbursement of workers’ wages and timely conduct of DPCs.”
Later, the minister distributed water filters supplied by the Arunachal Pradesh Building & Other Construction Workers’ Welfare Board to the registered workers. (DIPRO)
