Singareni workers strike called off

HYDERABAD: Following an assurance from chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on considering their demands, the Singareni Collieries Workers Union (SCWU) has called off their strike on Thursday.Though the workers expected the government to announce 25 per cent share to them in the profits earned by the Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL), the chief minister is learnt to have told them that a final decision on the issue will be taken only after the accounts for the year 2010-11 were audited.In a meeting with the chief minister at his camp office here, the SCWU representatives demanded that the government should give some sort of commitment on the 25 per cent share of profits as against the 16 per cent share given during the last financial year. But the chief minister convinced them to call off their strike stating that it was premature to make any statement on the percentage of profits to be shared with the workers as the accounts were not closed. “Once accounts are closed by July 1, the SCCL management will announce a package for the workers,” a senior SCCL official told Express. The SCWU was on strike for the past four days demanding resolving of their 47 demands. The SCCL management promised to resolve only 16 demands.