Trade unions to meet to work out tsunami relief programme

Central trade unions are likely to meet here in the next few days to to chart out relief programmes, including adoption of villages, to help those affected by the killer tsunami.A meeting of the central trade unions is being mulled in this regard, sources told PTI and added that they have already appealed to their members and the working class to donate generously to the Prime Minister's Relief Fund.When contacted, CITU President M K Pandhe said he would try to convene a meeting afer consulting other union representatives.The unions had earlier considered a meeting to chalk out an agitation plan to protest the "hasty" decision by the UPA Government to promulgate an ordinance to amend the Patents Act, they said.But in the wake of tsunami that hit Indian shores on December 26, they felt that relief for the thousands of victims was important and there should be interaction among trade unions to help rehabilitation works in the tidal wave-affected regions.The unions would not hesitate to adopt the affected villages/places, sources said.The Centre and state governments have already started on a war-footing the relief and rehabilitation efforts, apart from measures to prevent outbreak of epidemic, after the tsunami gulped as many as 10,000 lives in India and destroying property worth thousands of crores of rupees. PTI