CM expresses fear of violence in N Bengal
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday expressed apprehension of violence a day before the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections in North Bengal.
The Trinamul Congress trade union wing has called a strike at Great Eastern Energy Corporation Limited (GEECL) in Asansol alleging that the drivers are not getting the basic minimum salary, resulting in complete stoppage of CNG transportation in Paschim Burdwan district and neighbouring Jharkhand.
Incidentally, GEECL, a London Stock Exchange-listed company of the Y K Modi Group is the first company in India to extract Coal Bed Methane Gas in technological collaboration with a US company from the Raniganj coalfield area at Asansol.
Mr. Raju Ahluwalia, the INTTUC leader of the transport workers union said that the drivers used to work for 24 hours but the company does not provide them even the eighthour salary fixed by the state labour department of Rs.11,910 a month, plus one day compulsory leave in a week and ESI and PF. “Since 2010 we have been fighting to hike salary of the drivers of the vehicles carrying gas cylinders to the petrol pumps of Indian Oil Corporation Limited. But GEECL authority has not paid any heed to our plea. Finally we have resorted to strike. Also the company hikes prices of CNG gas without any notifications leading to much harrassment and trouble for poor auto drivers,” he said
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Due to lack of gas supply for the past two days the old stock will finish soon and it is feared that very soon there will be severe crisis of CNG gas in Paschim Burdwan district.
Mr. Shubhankar Ganguly, an official of GEECL in Asansol told media persons that at present he is in New Delhi and unable to comment on this issue. In Kanyapur. Asansol, a large number of loaded trucks with CNG cylinders were spotted stranded due to the strike.
At a time when chief minister Mamata Banerjee has urged that nobody should call strike in the industrial sector in the state whimsically and boasted of improved industrial relations in the state during her regime, the wild cat strike called by the TMC trade union in CNG gas supply in Asansol has created a stir.
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