BJP, Congress offer support to stir by ex-staff of Comtrust handloom weaving factory

Agitating employees were part of the 107 staff who were on the rolls when the company was closed down in 2009

DCC president K. Praveen Kumar opening an all-party meeting called by Comtrust employees on the factory premises in Kozhikode on Tuesday. | Photo Credit: K. Ragesh

The district committees of the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have offered support to an agitation launched by a section of former employees of the now defunct Commonwealth Trust (Comtrust) Handloom Weaving Factory in Kozhikode.

The 58 employees were part of the 107 staff who were on the rolls when the company was closed down in 2009. Though an all-party meeting was held to discuss the future course of agitation on Tuesday, only leaders of the Congress and the BJP and representatives of trade unions such as the Indian National Trade Union Congress, Swathanthra Thozhilali Union, and Hind Mazdoor Sabha were present. K. Praveen Kumar, DCC president, opened the meeting.

P.K. Santhosh Kumar, who heads the group, said a case had been filed in the High Court seeking immediate government takeover of the factory as envisioned in an Ordinance passed by the Kerala Assembly in 2012. Another group, led by All-India Trade Union Congress leader E.C. Satheesan, had launched an indefinite strike on the factory premises some time ago. Meanwhile, the BJP is planning to hold an event on February 1 to mark the 14^th anniversary of the closure of the company.

According to the employees, Kozhikode District Cooperative Travel and Tourism Development Society, Pumice Project, and Vyapari Trade Centre, which had bought parcels of the factory land have filed a petition in the High Court against the acquisition.

The government has said that it can take over the factory only after the case is disposed of and with the permission of the court. Mr. Santhosh Kumar, however, alleged that illegal parking of vehicles had been allowed on the factory land though the court was yet to pass its judgment.

Trade union leaders said though the President of India had given assent to the Ordinance in 2018, government acquisition was yet to be done. Despite the State Industrial Tribunal issuing an order in 2017 to provide salary and other benefits due for the employees from 2009, they are yet to be given. Over one-and-a-half acres were sold in the meantime.

The union leaders said the Kerala State Industrial Corporation used to give ₹5,000 a month to the 107 staff who were on the rolls when the company was closed down. The family members of those who died and people who reached retirement age, however, are not getting the money now.