Employees of Fertilisers and Chemicals Travancore Limited (FACT) re-launched their protest action after a gap of more than four months demanding the revival of the company. They organised a day-long dharna and protest march to the corporate office of the public sector company on Tuesday.
It was on June 27 that the employees, under the aegis of Save FACT Action Committee, withdrew their 249-day-old protest action, including a relay hunger strike, after Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers Ananth Kumar promised to speed up approval of a revival package for the company.
Former chairman and managing director of FACT George Sleeba inaugurated the dharna by the protesting employees at Udyogamandal. P.M. Sharafudeen, president of FACT Officers’ Association, presided at the inauguration of the dharna. Former MPs K.P. Dhanapalan and K. Chandran Pillai; BJP district general secretary N.P. Shankarankutty and AITUC district president K. Vijayan Pillai also spoke.
Employees of the company plan to hold protest action in the State capital in the second week of December besides continuing protests in the coming days in Kochi.
The FACT delegation is also slated to take part in the hearing scheduled by the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) in New Delhi on November 20.
