The representatives of all party trade unions of Visakhapatnam Port on Wednesday staged a protest at the Port Administrative Office Building (AOB), demanding cancellation of the ‘pre-bidding meeting’ which, they alleged, was convened to allow the entry of private players for upgradation of the Port Golden Jubilee Hospital (GJH).
Deploring the decision of the port management to ‘privatise’ the GJH, CITU All India Federation secretary B. Jagan and Hind Mazdoor Sabha (HMS) leader Mangayya Naidu said the hospital, which was constructed four decades ago to mark the golden jubilee of the Visakhapatnam Port, has been catering to the health needs of thousands of workers.
Saying that the port management has reserve funds of crores of rupees and several acres of land at its disposal, they opined that under these circumstances there was no need to invite private participation for the development of the hospital.
They demanded the withdrawal of the plan to upgrade the hospital under PPP mode. They warned that the agitation would be intensified by roping in the support of people’s organisations and political parties if the post-management went ahead with its decision to allow private participation.
CITU leaders K. Satyanarayana, J. Satyanarayana, B. Lakshmana Rao, Sambamurthy, Ramalingeswara Rao, AITUC leaders Sankaran and Ramana Babu, Anji(HMS), Chandu(INTUC) and Ravi (BMS) were among those who participated in the protest.