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TN CM writes to PM on the plight of BGML workers issue
Chennai, Aug 17: Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalithaa has asked Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to intervene on `humanitarian grounds` to redress grievances of about 4000 workers from Tamil Nadu employed in Bharat Gold mines at Kolar in Karnataka following its closure in 2001.
Chennai, Aug 17: Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalithaa has asked Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to intervene on "humanitarian grounds" to redress grievances of
about 4000 workers from Tamil Nadu employed in Bharat Gold mines at Kolar in Karnataka following its closure in 2001.
In a letter addressed to Vajpayee yesterday, a copy of which was released to the press here today, Jayalalithaa said that majority of the 4000 workers in the gold mine belonged to SC/ST community and they were not paid salaries or wages for the last 30 months since its closure.
She said that the decision of the Centre to accord permission to the management of the mine to permit closure under Sect 25(o) of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, was quashed by Karnataka High Court in March 2001 with a direction to the BIFR to find ways and means to revive the mines. A writ appeal filed by the management in the Karnataka High Court was still pending disposal, she said in the letter.
Though negotiations have gone between the management and the employees' union on the type of package that could be extended to employees, no decision had been taken even after 30 months of closure and employees were not getting any benefit from the mines 'reducing them to the state of poverty and near starvation', she said.
"I feel that the government of India should take immediate steps to reopen the mines and if this is not feasible in the short term, a mutually acceptable separation package should be finalised to the satisfaction of the workers,” she said.
Bureau Report
She said that the decision of the Centre to accord permission to the management of the mine to permit closure under Sect 25(o) of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, was quashed by Karnataka High Court in March 2001 with a direction to the BIFR to find ways and means to revive the mines. A writ appeal filed by the management in the Karnataka High Court was still pending disposal, she said in the letter.
Though negotiations have gone between the management and the employees' union on the type of package that could be extended to employees, no decision had been taken even after 30 months of closure and employees were not getting any benefit from the mines 'reducing them to the state of poverty and near starvation', she said.
"I feel that the government of India should take immediate steps to reopen the mines and if this is not feasible in the short term, a mutually acceptable separation package should be finalised to the satisfaction of the workers,” she said.
Bureau Report