CPI(M) asks NLC management to give up vindictive tactics

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has urged the Neyveli Lignite Corporation management to give up its vindictive attitude against trade union leaders and employees.

Addressing a press conference here on Sunday, CPI (M) State secretary G. Ramakrishnan said that when the Centre mooted the idea of divesting five per cent of NLC shares all the trade unions opposed the move united.

Now the issue has been resolved with the State government picking up the required shares but the NLC management has not yet resolved its problems with the trade union leaders and employees for going on a 13-day strike protesting the divestment proposal.

Any act of vendetta would ruin the existing cordial industrial relations, Mr Ramakrishnan said asking the NLC management to drop any move to punish its employees and union leaders in the interests of the company.

Instead of taking measures to curb the democratic activities of the employees, the NLC management should concentrate on revising the pay structure that was due for the past one-and-half years, he demanded.

Noting that the talks to settle the bonus incentives were also yet to materialize, he charged the NLC management with ignoring the direction of the Supreme Court to regularise 13,000 contract workmen.

“It is a matter of concern that in certain spheres of activity the NLC management is finding recourse to outsourcing.

It is contrary to the spirit of the public sector undertakings, particularly when the clamour against privatization has gained momentum,” Mr Ramakrishnan said.

Rural job scheme

As for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, Mr Ramakrishnan said that for reaching the benefit to the target groups, the scheme must be rid of irregularities, and the entire wage of Rs 148 a day, as promised by the Centre, should be given to those on its rolls.

The Food Security Bill in its present form would not cover a considerable percentage of the population under the Public Distribution System.

The Bill would at best benefit 70 per cent of the rural population and 50 per cent of the urban population, he said.

“Given the demography of Tamil Nadu where 50 per cent of the population is already urbanised, the Bill is likely to disrupt the functioning of the public distribution system here,” Mr Ramakrishnan said.

The CPI(M) had proposed not less than 50 amendments to the Bill to bring about food security to the deserving population in the country, he said.