Bengaluru, Apr 28: Former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday demanded that the Karnataka government announce a "special package" for unorganised sector workers, street vendors and autorickshaw drivers, among others, all daily wagers whose lives are affected by the COVID-19 lockdown. "..a special package needs to be announced to this section of people, this is the demand," Siddaramaiah, who is also Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly, told reporters here.
Alleging that the government has failed to control the spread of coronavirus, he said it is the government's responsibility to take care of the basic needs of those from the unorganised sector, whose lives have been impacted by the lockdown. "It is the duty of the government and they should do it immediately. The package should also be announced. I will hold discussions with leaders of other opposition parties like JD(S), CPI, CPI(M) and BSP in this regard and also on trouble faced by farmers," he added. Alleging discrimination in supply of food packets and ration kits, Siddaramaiah said it was being supplied properly only in constituencies represented by BJP legislators.
"Politics is being played out in supply of food materials to the needy, keeping corporation elections in mind.... We don't want to do politics at this point in time as there is lockdown. If things continue to be the same after the lockdown ends, we will protest on the streets," he said.
Siddaramaiah on Tuesday interacted with representatives of auto rickshaw and cab drivers, street vendors, barbers, unorganised workers organisations, among others, to understand the difficulties faced by them during the lockdown and to know whether help from the government has reached them. He said most of them don't have work and it has become difficult for them to lead their normal lives.
They raised several issues like auto and cab drivers being unable to pay road tax and EMI, he said, adding that he would write a detailed letter to the Chief Minister in this regard The former Chief Minister pointed out that there is about 21 lakh registered organised workers, 1.32 crore lakh unorganised workers and also agriculture labourers in the state.
"Among organised workers only 12.5 of the 21 lakh are said to be getting Rs 2000, that too from the Employees Welfare Fund, while others could not get any money, citing reasons like they have not renewed it," he said.
On the other hand, unorganised sector workers don't get money and were also not getting proper food or ration kits, he alleged Though the labour department claimed that it was supplying one lakh food packets and 1.5 lakh ration kits, as also corporations, there were leakages and it was not reaching the beneficiaries properly, he said.
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saudi bopanna ka bap ka hai. And who are you to say whether it is a muslim country or not. boppa
Saudi tere bap ka hai Kya ? Saudi is NOT Muslim country,.
YES WE ARE WITH YOU
Exactly. this is the fake encounter and cops deserve the death penalty.
Katju rightly said. Murderers along with masterminds deserve it.The trend of fake encounters has to be stopped in future.
Yes, many Indians believe that it was custodial killing/fake encounter, and a good majority also agree with Katju. All these Indians, including Katju - A former supreme court judge, are Anti-Nationals.
Sanghi chappars calling a qualified Rtd. chief justice of supreme court \Desh Drohi\". I mean why do people even respond to such comments and trolls.
None the less, Katju is also against many Islamic values and practices. But in this case, he has raised his voice for justice."
#2 Bopanna, KSA
What are you doing in KSA? It is a muslim country and is it allowed to you to work there? How can you feed your family in the wealth which is earned in muslim country. You hate Ummah then in this case you are a hypocrite.
Remember this soon or later truth will prevail and that time you will be sad. In your view if Justice Katju is desh drohi then what about Praveen togadiya, Karnal purohith, sadhvi prajna, Swami asimanad and other all sangi terrorists??
You are right Mr.katju. Guys look @ video, and suspects prisoners were raising hands for surrender. But cops deliberately fired at them. And if you watch last night debate with bloody BJP spokesperson the way of answering was very shameful. Just they were struggling to answer the TV anchors questions.
Bopanna, if it had happened to you or any of your family member you would have felt the same thing.....no one has proved them guilty....they were under trial...police are not doing their job...instead encountering them by putting Simi tag....it is not good for a democratic country like India.....
How much does the Ummah pay you for such statements?
This guy is a Desh drohi
Death penalty for COPS in India !!!!!!!!!.....Forget it man
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