Gangtok: Accusing the private sector with
deliberately violating in a "brazen manner" their agreement
with the Sikkim government to provide employment to locals in
their units, Chief Minister Pawan Kumar Chamling on Monday
threatened to review the terms of agreement with the 'guilty'
companies.
"The private companies have been violating in a brazen
manner the terms of understanding/agreement with the state
government to promote local employment to such an extent that
local people employed in the industrial units have been
harassed and victimized by the management", he said at an
investor's meet here.
The local workers were discriminated by being paid less
remuneration than their colleagues from outside while the
private companies have gone back on their commitment to
provide training for honing their skills for available jobs.
Private industrial units, including in the pharmaceutical
and hydro power sectors, have reneged on their promise to
ensure 100 per cent employment of the local people by giving
them the requisite training at the companies' expenses, he
alleged.
Chamling charged pharmaceutical company Cipla Ltd had
recently sacked 140 trained local employees to hire cheap
labour from outside and Sun Pharma paid less remuneration to
the locals leading to unrest in both units.
Chamling charged hydro power company Lanco Energy Private
Ltd, developing 500MW Teesta Stage VI project in the Himalayan
state, failed to provide employment to locals and hired
instead 70 per cent of its labour from Tamil Nadu.
He also criticised the hospitality sector for not
providing cent per cent employment to local people.
''The state government will no longer tolerate the
private sector's bid to resist employment to local people,''
the Chief Minister said and asked private units to furnish
details within one month about availability of jobs in its
units, local employment and payment of revenue to the state
government since their inception.
With regard to bigger industrial units, both functional
and proposed, Chamling asked them to provide details of land
acquisition, contributions to local area development and
compensation to project-affected people.
The state government will review the terms of agreement
with the private companies and take necessary action to
protect socio-economic interests of the state and its people
based on the details, he said.
Chamling, however, did not say whether the government
would scrap the agreement/understanding with those private
units found guilty of having failed to promote local
employment.
Chamling said the private sector had benefited from the
tax exemption on investment for setting up units in Sikkim on
the consideration that they will generate local employment and
be a harbinger of socio-economic development in the state.
It cannot be allowed to 'renege on its commitment' to the
socio-economic interests of the state and its people, he said
and warned that a strong public emotion was brewing up against
the private units practising discriminatory labour practices.
"These units must be prepared to face the music on their
own. The state government will not come to the rescue of any
private company if the public emotion decides to act against
the management of these companies," he said.
Earlier, chief secretary T T Dorjee asked senior
officials to hold review meetings with the management of the
private companies from time to time to ensure that the latter
complied with the objective to provide local employment and
contribute to socio-economic development.
Bureau Report
First Published: Monday, October 12, 2009, 20:25