Palledars' agitation: Preneet meets Kairon
Thursday, 23/07/2015
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Patiala : Patiala MLA and former Minister of State for External Affairs Preneet Kaur called on Punjab Food Minister Adesh Partap Singh Kairon and raised the issue of Palledars who had been agitating at Patiala for many days against non-payment of their dues for the labour work carried out by them during wheat She pleaded with the minister that the issue deserved to be sorted out on priority, for most of them were in dire need of money to fund childrens' education at various levels, besides other obligations.
The Food Minister assured her that he was already aware of the matter and it would be sorted out without any further delay.
A statement here on Wednesday from Preneet Kaur’s office it was stated that in her presence, the Food Minister also spoke to the Palledar Union leaders on phone and advised them to meet certain officers who he said had been given suitable instructions.
Preneet Kaur had visited the agitating labourers at the dharna site and received a memorandum from District Coordination Committee of Palledar Mazdoor Union from Patiala. She gave the memorandum to the Food Minister which listed, inter-alia, the main demand that the agreement reached between the district authorities and the Palledars on April 26 last, regarding work to be given without tenders and payments to be made to the Palledars and labourers direct, not through contractors, should be implemented in toto. It may be mentioned that until this rabi season, the entire labour activities and works were allotted to the Palledar Unions' Contractors after inviting tenders. But from this season, the loading of produce filled bags from the mandi yards on to the trucks was assigned by the government to the arhtias and that too, without tenders and a flat rate of Rs 1.50 per bag was fixed to be paid to the arhtias – as against Rs 1.09 earlier used to be paid to the Palledars through contractors.
There was a mass-protest by the Palledars and labourers against it and wheat procurement operations remained at a stand-still until an agreement was reached between the Palledars and the government on April 26. Unfortunately, they had not been paid their dues by the agencies so far and they were being allegedly subjected to harassment by the DFSCs of Patiala and Sangrur, Preneet Kaur added.
