Ongole Dairy employees end hunger protest

Ongole: The employees and workers of the Ongole Dairy, who had been on relay hunger protests for the last 129 days, temporarily called off the agitation in front of the Prakasam Bhavan on Friday, following the assurance from the district Collector to address their problems.

The employees and workers started the relay hunger strike on February 24, demanding the Ongole Dairy to clear the PRC dues from June 2, 2014, to March 31, 2015, DA dues from January 1, 2015, EPF from November, 2018, pending salaries from June 2020, surrender leave dues for the last 4 years, leave encashment, increment dues etc immediately. Before starting their relay hunger strike, they had staged protests at the dairy and the Collectorate several times and requested the dairy management, district officials and public representatives to do justice to them.

On Friday, the CITU district general secretary Chikati Srinivasa Rao, Dairy Employees Association leaders G Narayana Rao, M Srinivas, Ch Rambabu, Gaddam Raghava Rao, Katuri Srinivasa Rao met Collector Pravin Kumar in his chamber and explained their grievances.

The Collector assured them that he would focus on addressing the issues as soon as possible and requested the dairy employees and workers to call off the agitation, considering the Covid situation. Respecting the request of the Collector, the AP Rythu Sangham general secretary KVV Prasad, Chikati Srinivasa Rao, Kalam Subbarao offered lime juice to the employees sitting on the hunger protest on Friday, and called off the relay hunger strike.

They said that due to their untiring agitation, they received the GOs and VRS packages from the government, and declared that they are ready to intensify the agitation if the issues are not resolved soon.