Shivamogga: Kuruvalli Hitarakshana Vedike President P. Manjunath has warned of a fierce struggle if the tender application submitted by the workers in Upper Kuruvalli Survey No. 75 is not disposed off and the workers are not allowed to work legally.
Speaking on the occasion, he said that some people are only making political gains in the name of Kuruvalli quarry workers as the workers are still not getting the facilities they deserve in a fair manner. But it is ironic that in recent times, the workers have been given the opportunity to become the owners and the followers of this political party have created obstacles to make good this opportunity along with ruling leaders.
There is no life security for the poor women who break stones, carry stones, break gravel, and do rock cleaning in the village’s stone quarry. Life has become miserable with people struggling for even a single meal.
Recently, the Department of Mines and Geology of the State Government has converted 6 acres of mine land in Survey No. 75 of Upper Kuruvalli into 3 blocks and reserved it for traditional stone-breaking workers. It has been almost eight months since a senior official of the Shivamogga Geology and Mines Department obtained a DD of Rs. 1,000 denomination in the name of a senior official of the Shivamogga Land and Mines Science Department and applied for the box tender from the workers.
Shivamogga Geology and Mining Department officials said that the applications submitted by the labourers so far have not been disposed of and the workers have not been allowed to work in a fair and legal manner on this quarry and have resorted to the work of hitting the poor labourers and today the situation has created where the labourers are migrating.
Under political pressure to bring together all kinds of workers’ families who depend on the same profession to come out on the streets, the lobby and the officials, in connivance with the businessmen, conspired to get rid of the stone quarry of the labourers. If the petition filed by the poor labourers is disposed off immediately and the tender process legally called by the stone quarry of Survey No. 75 is not cleared and the tender process is not completed and the labourers are not allowed to work legally, then there will be a strong protest from the Upper Kuruvalli Hitarakshana Vedike,” warned President P. Manjunath.
