Afzal Akhtar leads agitation at company gate, asks officials to reconsider decision
Jamshedpur: Members of various political parties lent support to the one-day dharna organized here on Tuesday to stop the shifting of the Tata Hitachi plant to Kharagpur. The peaceful sit-in was held before the company gate on a call given by the deputy head of Jamshedpur block Afzal Akhtar who asked the company officials to reconsider their decision.
Leading the agitation, Akhtar said the company was being shifted to Kharagpur. He said the manpower in the Jamshedpur plant is being reduced for the expansion of the Kharagpur plant. He claimed that the Jamshedpur plant of Tata Hitachi Construction Machinery Company Limited will be shut down by the end of this year.
The dharna was supported by the panchayat representatives from across the district and members of various political and social outfits of the city. It was attended by members of Bhojpuri Chetna Manch, Akhil Bharatiya Kshatriya Mahasabha, Mukhi Samaj, Jamshedpur Vishwakarma Samaj, Navyuvak Sangh Rahargora and Manglahaat Dukandar Sangh Sakchi.
The sit-in began at 11 am and continued till 3 pm. A memorandum was handed to Pankaj Jha, a company official.
Akhtar said a phased agitation would be started in case the company officials did not respond to their demand for revoking the shifting plan for the Jamshedpur plant.
�More than 400 employees of the company and their kin are in a panicky situation ever since they came to know of the shifting plan of the plant. Their families are dependent on their job. The shifting of the company would devastate their future,� Akhtar said.
The agitating political party representatives said the state government officials should make it clear whether they had taken an initiative to stop the company�s shifting. If no action has been taken, it should be taken soon without delay, they said.
Among those present during today�s agitation programme included Zila Parishad chairperson Bulurani Singh, Zila Parishad vice president Rajkumar Singh, Sunita Sah, DD Tripathy, Dulal Bhuiyan, Anand Bihari Dubey, Usha Singh, Vijay Khan, Ramdas Soren, Kanhaiyya Singh, Appu Tiwary and Babua Singh.