DAYA News Bureau, 15th September 2022: In the face of Durga Puja, hundreds of stone quarry workers in Durgapur lost their jobs. Local Trinamool leaders and workers of the stone quarry in the area complained that the stone quarry has been lying closed three months ago at the instigation of Sunil Kisku, a BJP leader in the area. As a result of which people of Washing Plot, Daser Bandh, BM Plot have lost their jobs and are literally starving.
For several decades, the work of extracting gravel stones from the soil in Kamalpur of Durgapur has been going on. The only work of poor people here is stone quarrying. Gravel stone from these stone quarries reaches different parts of the country.
Paschim Bardhaman Additional District Magistrate (LR) Sandeep Tudu said that the Stone Mines belong to the British period. Currently there is a case in the court regarding the land on which the mines used to operate. The work of Stone mining couldn’t start unless proper land acquisition is done.
Stone mine workers and their family, under the leadership of local TMC leaders alleged that the stone quarries has been closed for three months due to a post by a local BJP leader Sunil Kisku on social media. Members of these jobless families backed by TMC leaders surrounded Kisku’s house and joined a protest since Wednesday morning. Police from Durgapur Police Station came to Sunil Kisku’s house after receiving the news. The police saved the young man from the angry crowd. The families of the jobless workers demanded that Kisku has to do something so that they get back their job, because the work of quarrying has gone for him only.
There are six mines in that area. All the mines have been closed for the last two to three months. About 1,500 people have become unemployed. As the mines are closed, the ill paid workers are not able to run their families. According to local sources, in 2019 a local tribal youth named Sunil Kisku started a movement on several issues including low wages of workers. He complained to several administrative officers of the district that the mines were running illegally. Subsequently, the administration decided to close all the mines.
According to local sources, the police of Durgapur police station have called the protestors for discussion. The agitators said that if no solution is found in that meeting, then if necessary they will surround the Durgapur Land Revenue Department and plunge into more intense protest.