In a display of high-handedness and a blatant abdication of the government’s responsibility towards its citizens, Mr. Nitin Singh Bhadauria, District Magistrate of Udham Singh Nagar, refused to engage in dialogue with a CITU delegation regarding the ongoing labour protests in the district.

The delegation, led by CITU General Secretary Elamaram Kareem, included National Secretary K N Umesh along with state President M P Jhakmola, General Secretary Rajendra Singh Negi and other district leaders. Despite having a prior appointment, the delegation was made to wait for over three hours. Upon learning of their organisational affiliation, the District Magistrate refused to engage, displaying unacceptable arrogance. In protest, the delegation began a dharna inside the DM’s office, to continue until he rectified this indefensible conduct and initiated discussions on this critical issue.

Earlier in the day, the delegation met the striking V-Guard workers at Gandhi Park, Rudrapur, in Udham Singh Nagar district of Uttarakhand, and extended solidarity. The delegation learned of the harsh and inhuman working conditions inside the V-Guard plant that compelled workers to launch this protest.

The Rudrapur plant employs around 3,000 contract workers – most of them young women – with not a single permanent worker. Workers are paid abysmally low wages of around Rs 9,000 per month, with blatant violations of basic labour laws having become the norm. When workers rose in protest demanding wage increases, they were met with police repression, lathi charges, and forcible eviction from the factory premises. A large number of workers have since been denied entry into the factory.

Under this condition, the CITU has underlined that the conduct of Mr. Bhadauria constitutes a gross violation of the All India Services (Conduct) Amendment Rules, 2014.

The CITU has demanded immediate intervention of the district labour administration to resolve the ongoing labour disputes, revision of Minimum Wages in Uttarakhand; the State Government should call an immediate meeting with the Central Trade Union Leadership to settle the pending issues.

The CITU has called upon all affiliated unions and units of CITU to strongly protest this act of high-handedness by the District Magistrate of Udham Singh Nagar.