Contract workers employed at the NHPC Power Station in Dharchula have announced an indefinite strike beginning 8 September, demanding payment of arrears pending for the past seven months and immediate measures to ensure workplace safety.
The workers under the banner of the NHPC Contract Workers’ Union affiliated to AICCTU said that despite repeated representations, neither NHPC management nor the government has addressed their grievances. They said that in addition to wage denial, they are being forced to work in extremely hazardous conditions. With the plant entrance repeatedly blocked by ongoing landslides, workers complain that they are being made to carry on duties without any protective measures, putting their lives at serious risk.
The strike drew widespread solidarity from across the region. Students from Almora and Pithoragarh University, as well as several gram pradhans of neighbouring villages, extended support to the workers’ struggle. Local residents too expressed anger at what they described as the anti-worker and anti-people policies of the BJP government.
In the last four years of the so-called “double engine” government led by Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, Uttarakhand’s workers, farmers, and students have faced mounting insecurity, said union leaders at the site. They warned that if the government and NHPC continue to ignore workers’ demands, the strike will intensify into a wider people’s movement.
