Farmers Movement Archive

National Monetisation Pipeline to hurt country’s economy: ML

PATNA: CPI(ML) general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya said here on Saturday that one-day Bharat bandh call given by the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), trade unions and other organisations on three issues will be observed in the state on September 25 with the possible participation of the Mahagathbandhan partners. The issues on which the bandh will be observed include withdrawal of the controversial three farm laws, proposed labour laws and the mega National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP) of the Centre. “The SKM, trade unions and other organisations which participated in the two-day national convention held in Delhi from August 26 were unanimous that the three issues will disrupt the country’s economy. The Centre’s move will also hit the unorganised sector on a huge scale,” Bhattacharya said. State CPI(ML) secretary Kunal said the process to formally solicit the support of the Mahagathbandhan partners to the Bharat bandh has already been started. The Mahagathbandhan partners in the state are the RJD, Congress and the three Left parties, including the CPI and CPM. Bhattacharya and Kunal, along with other CPI(ML) functionaries, including Dhirendra Jha, were talking to media persons at the Chhajubag office of the party. Bhattacharya said even as the central government has been virtually selling the country’s public assets, it has called it the “monetisation” plan to cover the public outrage that the move has already started evoking. “The central government says that it will merely lease out the public assets to the private players to raise Rs 6 lakh crore in the next four years, but it amounts to selling them,” Bhattacharya said. Describing the collateral damage it will cause to the unorganized sector, Bhattacharya said the small outlets providing services to the travellers and vehicle drivers along the leased out national highways will be simply ordered to close to make way for the bigger outlets. Similarly, the small outlets on the railway platforms will also be asked to wind up and close their services and they will be replaced by costly service providers like at the airports, he said.

The Times of India

2021-08-29

Patna