Get Presidential nod for Comtrust Bill, Ministers told

The Left MLAs of the Kozhikode district have appealed to the Chief Minister, the Industries Minister, and the Minister for Social Welfare and Panchayats to take immediate steps to get Presidential approval for the Bill that was passed in the Assembly with respect to the purchase and transfer of the Commonwealth Trust (Comtrust) property in Kozhikode.

MLAs pen letter

In a letter to the three Ministers, Elamaram Karim, A. Pradeepkumar, P.T.A. Rahim, A.K. Saseendran, Purushan Kadalundy, K. Dasan, K. Kunjammad, K.K. Lathika, E.K. Vijayan, and C.K. Nanu, MLAs, alleged that the State government had not taken any steps to resolve the problems in the Bill, which was returned by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs for clarification. The Comtrust management had sold the property to a private individual, who approached the Kerala High Court seeking permission to construct a multi-storeyed building in the place of the Comtrust building.

The Bill had proposed that the main building and factory be retained as heritage property. While the land mafia was trying to grab the property, it was only the former labourers of the factory who were fighting against this in the High Court. The MLAs demanded that the State government join the labourers in the fight.

Benefits pending

The Bill had also mentioned that the existing workers would get all benefits from February 1, 2009, onwards. The government should take steps to provide these benefits, the MLAs demanded.