Panaji: All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) on Wednesday demanded that Goa government should give retention allowance to those mining workers who have been retrenched after the shutting down of the industry.
AITUC Deputy General Secretary Suhas Naik told that the union had urged chief minister Pramod Sawant to propose retention allowance for these workers in the state budget which was presented on February 06.
“There are around 2,500 to 3,000 workers employed with mining companies have faced retrenchment due to closure of mining industry,” Naik said adding that AITUC had demanded that state government should make provision of Rs 25,000 per month per person as a ‘retention allowance.’
He said that retention allowance is not a new demand, as such a practice exists when retrenchments happen in other industrial sectors.
Naik said that the state government has earned all this while from the mining industry in the form of royalty that was paid on export of the ore.
“Now, it is the time to pay back to those mining workers who have contributed to the state treasury,” he said.
The mining industry in the state has come to a grinding halt after Supreme Court quashed 88 mining leases in February, 2018.
State government has already filed review petition before the SC against the order, which will come up for the hearing later this month.
The top court, however, in its recent order has allowed royalty paid more, which is piled up at different places in the state to be exported.
Naik said that state government should ensure that when transportation of the royalty paid ore will begin, the mining firms should re-employ those who have been retrenched by them.
