CITU led the protest for migrant workers who demanded additional trains to transport them back to their states. This black flag protest was held to garner attention, as the workers expressed their agony over not having proper food or shelter due to the COVID-19 lockdown.
Coimbatore: Migrant workers and CITU protested demanding additional trains to transport them back to their hometowns in North India. This black flag protest was held to garner attention, as the workers expressed their agony over not having proper food or shelter due to the COVID-19 lockdown.
Migrant North Indian workers are aplenty in Coimbatore. They are engaged in various jobs and industries. Due to the lack of promise of employment after the COVID-19 lockdown period these workers did not have the money to pay their rent. Under pressure from their landlords they had to vacate their home and had to depend on the food provided by the government, volunteers, and charitable organisations.
Because of this, they were under pressure to travel back to their home towns. The government had therefore operated special Shramik trains to transport these migrant workers back to their home states. At the end of the third phase of lockdown the workers are being sent back via these special trains.
However, the workers have alleged that the number of trains being operated for the number of workers in the district is not proportional. Therefore they staged a black flag protest led by the Coimbatore CITU demanding the operation of additional trains from Coimbatore.
The protest that was held at the CPI(M) District Committee office in Gandhipuram was led by the CITU District President C. Padmanabhan. CPI(M) District Secretary Ramamoorthy took part in this protest along with more than 50 migrant workers. They raised slogans stating their demands.
Similarly, black flag protests were also held in 50 other places highlighting the demands of the migrant workers on behalf of the CITU in which many CITU members took part.