Apprentice personnel laid siege in front of the Coal India headquarters in Kolkata demanding regularization. The apprentices say that many posts of employees in the mine are vacant and regular trend works are being done. Shortage of manpower should be overcome by regularizing the apprentice after training. A large number of apprentices also joined Korba region in the movement.
A large number of apprentices are working in other subsidiaries of Coal India including South Eastern Coalfields Limited (SECL). These apprentices have demanded regularization from management. After demonstrating in front of SECL Bilaspur headquarters, agitation is now being done in front of Coal India headquarters. On Monday, about five thousand apprentices from all the subsidiaries participated under the leadership of Sushil Kumar Nirmalkar, national president of ITI Apprentice Association.
Sushil said that the memorandum has been submitted to the management after performing the siege throughout the day. With this, it has been said that if their demand is not met, then there will be agitation in the mine area and coal production and dispatch will be stopped from the mine.
He said that due to the continuous retirement of the workers working in the coal mine, manpower has reduced considerably and many regular trend works are being done through outsourcing. The apprentices are also working like regular personnel. They say that they will have to find work after apprentice. Therefore, the vacant posts in SECL should be recruited on priority basis, but the management is not taking positive initiatives on this.