By Tripura24.in Bureau
AGARTALA | June 29, 2026: Escalating their democratic agitation over rural economic distress, the Jirania Sub-Divisional Committee of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) today organized a massive rally to the office of the West Tripura District Magistrate (DM) and Collector. The mobilization concluded with the submission of a comprehensive deputation detailing critical labor issues, severe drops in MGNREGA mandays, and unaddressed inflationary pressures impacting the daily-wage working class.
The procession saw hundreds of construction laborers, brick kiln workers, and rural artisans carrying red flags and raising high-decibel slogans against current labor policies.
”Unemployment and Stagnant Wages Crushing Jirania’s Working Class”
The march started from the outskirts of the capital and paused for a massive street convention right outside the security barricades of the West Tripura DM office. Addressing the frontline workers, senior CITU state executives criticized the local administration for failing to control basic market prices while leaving daily-wage rates completely stagnant over the last fiscal quarters.
The union leaders asserted that without an immediate upward revision of minimum wages and at least 200 guaranteed workdays annually, rural families in Jirania would face severe nutritional and economic deficits.
”The working class in Jirania is facing an unprecedented double blow—skyrocketing prices of essential commodities on one hand, and a complete lack of administrative will to generate rural employment on the other. The MGNREGA scheme has been reduced to a mere paper exercise in several blocks, leaving thousands of registered laborers without income for months. We have handed over this deputation to the District Magistrate today to demand immediate structural intervention. If the administration continues to ignore our core points, we will upgrade this movement from peaceful deputations to a complete, indefinite strike across the industrial and construction sectors of West Tripura,” a senior CITU Jirania committee organizer declared during the demonstration.
Key Grievances Highlighted in the CITU Memorandum
A designated five-member trade union delegation met with senior administrative officials representing the West Tripura DM to place their strategic demands, which include:
- Enforcing Minimum Wages: Implementing a strict enforcement matrix to ensure that private contractors, construction firms, and industrial units pay the legally revised minimum daily wage without arbitrary cuts.
- Re-energizing MGNREGA Pipelines: Allocating emergency administrative funds to clear all pending wage backlogs for rural laborers in the Jirania block and scaling up active work site deployments.
- Social Security Nets: Setting up simplified registration desks at the sub-divisional level to distribute institutional benefits, medical insurance, and safety gear to unorganized construction workers.
- Checking Market Inflation: Deploying special task forces to monitor sub-divisional wholesale markets to curb artificial price manipulation of essential food items.
The district administration accepted the formal memorandum and assured the CITU representatives that the specific concerns regarding block-level wage delays and rural worksites would be sent to the sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) of Jirania for immediate verification.
