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.
The programme is being organised United for a Better Dakshina Kannada', a forum which comprises organisations belonging to different faiths including Ahinda, Buntara Yane Nadavara Mathr Sangha, Catholic Diocese of Mangalore, Dalit Sangharsha Samiti, Al Haq, Hope Foundation, Jain Samiti, Karnataka Christian Educational Society, Karnataka Komu Souharda Vedike, Karnataka Missions Network, KKMA-Karnataka, MFriends, Mogaveera Mahajana Sangha, Muslim Lekhakara Sangha, Sri Guru Singh Sabha Society, Talent Research Foundation and Yuva Vahini.
Comments
Naren....do a candle March for you cow maa first....then bharat maa....ha ha........we will be there in kadri....you will be repeating your bla bla.....sanghi paid goon....shitting in Singapooor.....poor fellow modiji can't help him to find a job here...what a pity in the bmj...chanters....
One Pakistani rant started chanting porkis slogan ...le farooq ....your kashmiri civilians who were killed are jihadis ... They shout anti India slogan ..sorry we dont consider them as indians at slll . they want benefits from India and loyalty to Pakistan ...any person who is born to their fathers will not support kashmiri stone Pelters ...nange doubt nin mele hahaha ..Kashmir belongs to indian nationalist ...bholo bharath mata ki jai ...no of unlikes shows this media is filled with pakis
Uri terror attack should be condemned and the wrong doers should be punished. But this brutal act did not happen all of a sudden. It was part of the two month long violence in Kashmir which killed nearly hundred people and injured thousands of innocent Kashmiris.
When you show solidarity with martyred soldiers, you should not forget the martyred Kashmiri civilians. Only terrorists deserve death. Civilians deserve your solidarity and those who are using pellet guns against innocent civilians deserve punishment.
United for a better Mangaluru now expanded jurisdiction till district borders? Or this is a new forum?
Lets join our hands together to support our armed forces that are protection our nation by sacrifying lives.
Btw, why caostaldigst.com did not cover yesterday's event at the same Kadri War Memorial wherein nationalist leaders paid tributes to the martyrs?
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