PPL's Ex-employees take their grievances to PM

New Delhi, Oct 8: Seeking a better deal for themselves, former employees of State-owned Paradeep Phosphates Ltd (PPL), which was sold to Zuari Maric Phosphates Ltd (ZMPPL) in 2002, have met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister Ram Vilas Paswan here.

In the meeting, the ex-employees had submitted a representation to the government asking for the constitution of a high-level committee under the Department of Fertilisers to redress their grievances.

''In the buy-out of the company, the employees have been handed out a raw deal. Even our basic sustenance needs have been taken away and the right to dignity has been completely relinquished. That is why we are seeking intervention of the Prime Minister and Mr Paswan,'' the PPL Ex-employees Association said here in a statement.

In the aftermath of the company's sale, its Delhi office was closed and over 90 per cent of the employees were forced to accept Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) or arbitrary transfer to different parts of the country, it added.

''Moreover, no medical benefits were included in the VRS and we were left with a meagre pension of Rs 500 to Rs 900,'' the employees said while demanding the re-opeing of the Delhi office.

Mr Paswan had earlier sought the Law Ministry's opinion on whether the deal could be reversed. He had contended that the controlling interest in the PPL, in which public funds of over Rs 670 crore was invested, was sold to a private company for barely Rs 15 lakh.

Terming the minister's move as a positive step, the employees pointed out, ''At the time of privatisation, it was brought to the knowledge of the then minister that the goverment was selling a gold mine.'' They further said that two more plants of PPL's size could have been established on the huge land which has been parted with for a meagre sum of money.

UNI