New Delhi: The inaugural session of the Indian labour conference here was briefly disrupted by a union leader who demanded a ‘reply’ from the Prime Minister on the alleged inaction of Assam government despite promising a CBI probe into the killing of his colleague there in March.
The incident occurred in the presence of Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh when Subhas Sen, a secretary of the Assam unit of All India Central Council of Trade Unions (AICCTU), interrupted Union Labour Minister Mallikarjun Kharge’s speech to lodge his protest.
The Minister had just begun to deliver his address when Sen sprang up from his seat at the Vigyan Bhawan here condemning the ‘assassination’ of the worker.
Sen said AICCTU leader Gangaram Koul was fighting for the tea garden workers’ movement in Assam and was allegedly killed by ‘Congress goons’ on March 25. “On April 1, the state chief minister promised a CBI probe in the state Assembly. But it is now more than one-and-half months and the CM has not found time to send a formal letter to the investigation agency,” he claimed. As he was speaking, the Minister chose to go ahead with his speech. The episode lasted a couple of minutes before Sen took his seat. (Agencies)
