Mangalore For the ninth time in less than three years, labour rights activist Sudatta Jain Shirtady began an “indefinite” hunger strike on Wednesday demanding the handing over of the Employees’ State Insurance (ESI) hospital in the city to the Union government.

The demand, he said, was a long-pending one and each of his previous eight hunger strikes – spanning over 63 days – had been ignored by political representatives and the State government.

“This time, however, is my final attempt at this. I will not have a morsel of food until the State government categorically says they will resolve the issues of ESI workers on the coast,” said Mr. Jain, who is the founder-president of the Akhila Bharata Karmika Sangha.

By afternoon, Mr. Jain cut a solitary figure on the make-shift stage set up in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s office. When asked if his “hunger strikes” were effective, he said, “More than 75 per cent of the work has been done since we started protesting. Only 25 per cent is left, and we can see officials here sending letters to higher-ups in Bangalore and Delhi about the demands.”

He cited the example of the Labour officials here listing out “action taken” on the Sangha’s demands in order to “urge him to call off his hunger strike”.

Prime among the organisation’s nine-point demands is to set up a hospital for beedi workers in the district and to hand over the Mangaore ESI Hospital to the Union government to avail more funds and better schemes.

Other demands included more testing facilities and dispensaries under the ESI scheme; scrapping of the contract labour system in government departments; raising the eligibility limit for ESI scheme to Rs. 25,000 per month for workers in the private sector; construction of an ESI Hospital in Udupi; and filling up vacant positions in labour department.