A joint platform of 10 Central trade unions on Thursday said they would hold protests across the country on October 7 against the National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP), a plan to lease government assets announced in August.
The unions termed the policy “anti-national” and “destructive”. They would carry out a continuous campaign to spread an awareness of the impact of the NMP on common people. October 7 would be observed as “national protest day” with agitations at district-level.
A national convention of workers would be held in Delhi after Dusshera and before Diwali to decide the future course of action, they stated.
“The so-called ‘National Monetisation Pipeline’ was announced by the Union Finance Minister on August 23, 2021, to raise ₹6 lakh crore over the next four years... It is claimed that the funds so generated will be invested in expanding infrastructure. This is nothing but a nefarious design to hand over all infrastructural assets to private hands virtually free for revenue generation by them without any obligation of capital cost and share a small part of that huge revenue with the government,” their statement read.
The joint platform comprises the Centre of Indian Trade Union, the All-India Trade Union Congress, the Indian National Trade Union Congress, the Hind Mazdoor Sabha, the All-India United Trade Union Centre, the Trade Union Coordination Committee, the Self Employed Women’s Association, the All-India Central Council of Trade Unions, the Labour Progressive Federation and the United Trade Union Congress.
