Nishikant slams Hemant government over BRO issue

DUMKA: BJP Godda MP Nishikant Dubey criticised the JMM-led coalition government on Friday for not allowing construction workers from Dumka to travel to Ladakh for a project of the Border Roads Organisation (BRO).
Dubey said, “The Union home ministry had arranged special trains from Jasidih and Dumka railway stations to ferry the workers. But the state government did not allow the workers to travel under various pretexts.This is quite an unfortunate development. The Union government must act tough with the Jharkhand government for the latter’s decision might jeopardize national security.”
Notably, 11,000 construction workers were supposed to be ferried in trains to Udhampur in Jammu and Kashmir from June 4 onwards. But on May 29, the Dumka district administration refused to grant travel permission to the workers. Construction workers from the Santhal Pargana, including Dumka, have been traditionally preferred by the BRO owing to their adaptability to high altitudes.
Meanwhile, Dumka deputy commissioner Rajeshwari B said the permission was withheld as the Jharkhand government raised concerns over the working conditions and remunerations given to the workers by the BRO. She had initially said that the decision to not allow the workers to travel was taken in view of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The state labour department has sought a few details from the BRO,” the DC said.
The BRO, which is trying to expedite its ongoing construction projects before the advent of monsoon and amid India’s mounting tension with China along the line of actual control, was granted permission to hire labourers by the district administration in two separate letters dated May 20 and May 23. The permissions were later recalled on May 29, the same day Jharkhand government flew back 60 stranded workers from Ladakh’s Batalik sector. These labourers were engaged in BRO’s road construction projects.
On Thursday, chief minister Hemant Soren had told journalists in Ranchi that workers venturing out of Jharkhand for employment will have to seek the state government’s consent.