Operations at the Thoppumpady fishing harbour are back to normality after a gap of four days.
Differences among trade unions on work-sharing had led to a standoff, and the harbour was closed on Tuesday afternoon after the police intervened. Talks convened by the District Labour Office on Wednesday had failed to resolve the issue, even as stakeholders comprising service providers, buying agents, and seafood processors demanded an amicable settlement.
A spokesman for Harbour Vyavasaya Samrakashana Samiti, representing stakeholders, had said that Thoppumpady being the biggest harbour in the State, the entire seafood industry was being held to ransom thanks to disruption of services at the facility. The Cochin Port Trust supervises the harbour.
The dispute over sharing of work came at a time when the harbour was seeing extremely lean days owing to fall in fish landings.
The harbour provides direct employment to around 5,000 people on a day-to-day basis, and it is the backbone of the seafood processing industry as well as a source of income for the West Kochi region.
M. Majeed, a fish trader, said operations had been restored at the harbour on Saturday. B. Hamsa of Cochin Port Labour Union said work at the harbour had resumed after conciliatory talks under the District Labour Office.
