The Andhra Pradesh government’s new alcohol policy has proven to be a curse on nearly 2,000 employees of the United Breweries unit in Ranasthalam, Srikakulam district.
The company has significantly reduced its production due to a lack of government contracts.
According to sources, the company was producing six lakh bottles of the Kingfisher and other brands a day through 2019.
The coming to power YSRCP government later issued a policy aimed at phasing out bans.
As part of its policy, it has started promoting new brands, which is proving to be detrimental to the products launched by the UB.
Representatives of the company had allegedly turned to the government in vain to try to win back the contracts.
With just a few orders from Odisha, Telangana and other countries, the UB unit has not only reduced its production in order to minimize losses, but also laid off almost 1,000 workers, which among other things causes dismay.
“Workers are now not eligible for the Provident Fund and ESI medical facility as they barely work 10 days a month,” said CITU State Vice President D. Govinda Rao.
Protests planned
“All workers, along with their family members, will hold protests from July 1-3 to draw the government’s attention to their plight,” said Ch. Ammannaidu, a CITU leader.
He said the hunger strike held at the company premises for the past three days will continue.
‘Why bias?’
“We are ready to lose our jobs if the government completely bans alcohol consumption in the state. But the government is promoting new brands and no longer placing orders with our company alone, ”complained I. Narayana Rao and J. Gangaraju, leaders of the United Breweries Workers’ Union (affiliated with CITU).
“The new politics made our lives miserable. We used to draw almost 12,000 yen a month. But now we barely pull 4,000 yen a month, which is not even enough to pay house rent and utility bills, ”said Ch. Prabhkar, another union leader.