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The Facebook account of Dhanbad deputy mayor Niraj Singh
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The ongoing feud between Dhanbad MP P.N. Singh and deputy mayor Niraj Singh over the plight of contract workers engaged by outsourcing companies in collieries moved from the streets to cyber space on Tuesday.
The deputy mayor turned to social networking site Facebook to highlight the condition the workers were functioning under with a wall post on his account and requested the people of Dhanbad to share the post.
Niraj Singh, an engineering graduate from Hindustan College of Science and Technology in Mathura, in his latest Facebook post claimed that 40,000 contract labourers hired by outsourcing companies were being forced to work 12 to 16 hours a day at various BCCL and ECL mines in Dhanbad, in violation of all labour laws.
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PN Singh and Niraj Singh |
Singh, who took up the cause of the these labourers during a meeting with assistant labour commissioner V.K. Trivedi on August 27, added the workers were being paid only Rs 3,500-Rs 7,500 per month, despite the National Coal Wage Agreement IX providing for at least Rs 11,800 to Rs 13,500 salary to even contract labourers in accordance with the mining act.
Launching a scathing attack on the Dhanbad MP, the deputy mayor wrote: “I fail to understand why the MP along with some other leaders do not want the provision of the mining act to be implemented.”
Niraj Singh’s post has elicited more than 67 comments so far, the majority in his favour. As many as 157 people have liked the post, while 35 have shared it.
“The post has been made to make people aware about the truth,” the deputy mayor told The Telegraph. He added that he had been using social networking sites to draw the attention of the people on contemporary issues.
Reacting to the post, district BJP spokesperson Manas Prasun said the deputy mayor was hiding facts from the people.
According to Prasun, while the deputy mayor was claiming the labourers should get their wages as per the national coal wage agreement-IX, on the other hand trade union Janta Mazdoor Singh run by Niraj Singh’s uncle had entered into an agreement with ECL for a daily wage of Rs 333 for each labourer instead of the Rs 427 which they should get as per the coal wage agreement.
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