Literary meet for the worker-poet

Traditionally, the president of the Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan (Vasant Bapat in this case) inaugurates the Kamgar Sahitya Sammelan. “It is a gesture we follow strictly to remind ourselves and others of the fact that we are merely a platform for the workers’ literary talents and essentially, not separate from the Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan,” Snehal Manjardekar, Welfare Commissioner, Maharashtra Labour Welfare Board, and the secretary of the worker’s literary meet, told Express Newsline.

Bapat and otherestablished Marathi literatteurs, however, were conspicuous by their absence.

The workers’ literary meet organised by the Maharashtra Kamgar Kalyan Mandal and held amidst the workers’ colonies at Dadar and Elphinstone Road is funded by contributions from the workers.

Workers with a salary of less than Rs 1,000 per month contribute Rs 3 per year to the Mandal and those earning over Rs 1,000 per month contribute Rs 6, while their employers donate three times the amount. The state government gives the Mandal Rs 2 and Rs 4 per worker with a salary of less/more than Rs 1,000 per month respectively.

“We started the Kamgar Sammelan eight years ago to provide a platform for the literary skills of workers across the state. We feel that the workers’ experiences, feelings, emotions and responses are markedly different from people belonging to other sections of the society,” said Manjardekar.