BILT factory workers stage dharna

Demand that management clear their wages pending for one year

​Mangapet (Bhupalpalli): The workers of Ballarpur Industries Limited (BILT) factory situated at Kamalapur in the district have staged a massive dharna demanding the management to clear their pending wages.

A large number of workers squatted on the road in front of the factory and shouted slogans against the factory management and the local elected representatives for failing to address their issue since its closure in 2015.

The leaders of different workers’ unions Ch Chokka Rao, Ganapathi, Lingampally Srinivas, Janardhan Reddy, P Venkat Reddy and others speaking to press persons on the occasion alleged the BILT management has to pay wages for the past 24 months.

Several appeals to clear the wages yielded no result. The issue was taken to the notice of the local MLA and Tribal Welfare Minister A Chandu Lal and MP A Seetaram Naik but they failed to resolve the issue, the protesting leaders complained.

They demanded both the Minister and the MP to quit their posts over their inefficiency to address the workers problems. ‘For the past two years the workers were living without wages but the local elected representatives have concern towards us,’ they lamented.

In a bid to disrupt the protest, the police took some of the protesting workers and their leaders into custody and shifted them to Mangapet police station. They were later released as the protesting workers went to police station and demanded their release.