Lies of the owners and administration exposed through pamphlets and posters throughout the city

Workers launch a mass contact programme to garner support of workers, employees and citizens in Gorakhpur city and Eastern UP
Condemnation pours in from India and abroad on a new petition to UP CM Ms. Mayawati

New Delhi, 23 May 2011. The incident of firing on workers on 3rd May, followed by brutal repression of peaceful Workers’ Satyagarh on 9th and 20th May followed by arrest of 14 workers leaders including 2 women on false charges is spiralling into a major issue. Arrested workers or on a hunger strike in jail. Some of them including the two women activists have been on a fast unto death since 16 May. Meanwhile, their supporters have launched a campaign in Gorakhpur city to expose the false propaganda by the administration. A large number of national and international trade unionists, activists, democratic and human right workers have signed the petition to UP Chief Minister Mayavati initiated by senior lawyer of Mumbai Kamayani Bali Mahabal condemning the repression of workers movement by police-administration and demanding the release of workers leaders.
The Citizens Front in support of Gorakhpur Worker’s Movement has said that workers and students supporting the movement went door-to-door in the Bhagavanpur Mohalla, Baragadwa village, Baragadwa crossing, Moharipur, GIDA industrial arear and informed people about the false propaganda and partisan attitude of the administration who is working as an agent of the industrialists. They also exposed the nexus of owners-administration-politicians-goons through posters and distribution of pamphlets.
Meanwhile, The Joint Worker’s Rights Struggle Front said that if the main accused of the 3rd May firing incident, the factory owners and gangster Pradeep Singh are not arrested, leaders of workers arrested in false cases are not released, and no action taken against officials illegally repressing the peaceful demostrations of worker, then they will intensify their agitation. They said that workers have decided not to go on work till all 18 dismissed workers from the two factories of V.N Dyers are not taken back.
In the meantime, the online petition addressed to the UP CM has been signed by around 200 people. So far the signatories include lawyer and social activist Kamayani Bali Mahabal, trade union and human right workers Sudha Bhardwaj of Chhattisgarh and Roma of New Trade Union Inititative, Madhuresh from National Allaince of Peoples Movement, Dhwajendra Dhawal of Indian Federation of Trade Unions, writer and artist from Haldwani Ashok Pande, photo journalist Javed Iqbal from Mumbai, Stefan Kardvel from UK, Prof. B.R. Bapuji from Hyderabad University, Fredrick D’Souza from US, journalists Jyoti Punwani, Mehatab Alam, Priyaranjan, Amalendu Upadhayaya, Sandeep Sharma, editor of Bengali magazine Annek Deepankar Chakravarti, Shukla Sen of Committee for Communal Amity, Mumbai, Gautam Ganguli from Kolkata, Sayan Bhattacharya, Anirban Pradhan from Medinipur, Ali Syed from Jagdalpur, Ranjani Kamal Murti from Chennai, well known theatre personalities Shamsul Islam and Neelima Sharma and other students, social-political activists writers and journalists. More people are signing the petition every day which will be presented to the UP CM in a day or two. A large number of citizens from across the country have also expressed their condemnation of the repression of peaceful workers movement through phone calls, fax, e-mail and letters to the Uttar Pradesh government and particularly the Gorakhpur administration.
The workers started the second phase of their Satyagrah on 16 May to demand arrest of the accused of 3rd May firing and other demands, were brutally lathicharged and 73 of them were detained on 20 May when they were going to handover their memorandum to the District Magistrate’s office . 25 workers were injured in the lathicharge. Most of the worker were releaed at night, but 11 workers, and two women were arrested. The police had also picked up workers’ leader Tapish Maindola during the day but the they denied his arrest until public pressure forced them to present him in court on the next day. The police have booked all the workers leaders under various sections of IPC in three separate cases. The arrested leaders have started hunger strike in jail. Shweta and Sushila Devi are on hunger strike since 16 May, but they too continued it despite their condition worsening every day.
Meanwhile, an independant fact-finding team of media persons and activists who visited Gorakhpur for three days has said in a separate press release that the local administration and labour department have displayed a brazenly biased approach during the labour agitation. They also said that even the basic labour laws are not followed in most of the factories in Gorakhpur which is the root cause of labour unrest in the region. The joint team has said that they will release their report in Delhi very soon.

Citizens Front in support of Gorakhpur Worker’s Movement

 

Please sign this online petition now! : http://bit.ly/kvIuIq