Aug 7, 2015. Banwali village, Punjab.
Contract Labourers at Vedanta’s Punjabi power company Talwandi Sabo Power Limited are striking today and protesting in front of the plant gates demanding payment for which they have been waiting for four months.
The Talwandi Sabo plant will be Punjabs biggest greenfield power plant. It is being constructed by SEPCO, the Chinese firm who were found guilty alongside Vedanta for causing more than 40 deaths at the Korba plant in Chhattisgarh when a chimney collapsed on workers in 2009 . Like the Talwandi Sabo workers they were contracted, un-unionised and without rights.
Hardeep Singh, engineer said, “27/28 contractors working for Vedanta have not received salaries for the last 4 months for which we are holding a non-violent protest in front of the gate of Vedanta/ TSPL. In this matter we met the DC and the GM of SEPCO. Nothing has been resolved. We will not stop our protest until our due wage worth 80 crores is settled. We demand from the company and the government that we are given what is owed to us.”
One laborer told us: “we have to live on this salary. It is the only source of our livelihood. We demand them to release our salaries as soon as possible. We will accelerate our fight until we get our dues.”
When I asked the GM about this matter he said he will be calling a meeting.
For more details please see the Punjabi newspaper Ajit page 8, Aug 7 , 2015
As reported by Luckwinder Sharma from Talwandi Sabo
