Kemaru Mutt pontiff joins MSEZ job seekers' protest

Mangalore, March 10: Kemaru Mutt pontiff Eesha Vitaldasa Swamiji on Thursday visited the encampment of job seekers in the project displaced families of the Mangalore Special Economic Zone, whose indefinite hunger strike in front of the office of Deputy Commissioner went on for the10th consecutive day.

Expressing his support to the cause of the agitators, Swamiji said that it is the right of the students to get a job either in MRPL or ONGC, as they were promised during the land acquisition process.

The Seer said that he is not willing to participate in the dialogue with the government in this particular issue, as he has not received any response from the government for his many letters and proposals so far.

However, he urged the government to put an end to the MSEZ model development in the region and look into the problems of farmers and try to eradicate unemployment.

He also urged the government to grant unemployment allowance to the protesters, until they get a suitable job.

Earlier in the day, Dakshina Kannada district unity of Campus Front of India also joined the protesters and vowed to fight for the cause of displaced families.

Around two hundred youth, belonging to MSEZ affected families, who have already completed training and those who are being trained at the Karnataka Polytechnic (KPT) are taking part in the protest.

Currently, 186 candidates have completed the training imparted by the company, while 188 other candidates are still undergoing job training. Most of them had stopped their education half way through following the company's assurance that they would get high salary jobs if they passed out of training classes.

The protesters are of the demand that all the 186 trained candidates be immediately recruited either in MRPL or ONGC and a written assurance be provided for the 188 youth, who are currently undergoing training that suitable jobs will be provided to them too, immediately after they complete their training. If they fail to provide jobs, they have to pay a compensation amount of Rs 30 lakh for each candidate for spoiling their future, says the protesters.