Stern action against extortion at CPT: Minister

Kochi, Nov 6 (UNI) Kerala Industries Minister Elamaram Kareem today said stringent action would be taken against those extorting money in the name of labour charges at the Cochin Port Trust (CPT).

Talking to mediapersons after a meeting with port officials and trade union leaders here, he said it had been decided to stop all illegal collection of money with the support of labour unions from tomorrow.

He said stringent action including legal recourse would be taken against those praticising unfair means at the port.

The Minister said certain groups were charging exorbitant labour charges for cargo handling - loading, unloading and forced collection of money from trucks, lorries and container trailers.

He said this practice, using which crores of rupees was exhorted, was detrimental to the interests of CPT as most ships were being diverted to other ports in the region.

When major ports in the country had posted growth of 20 to 30 per cent with annual cargo in the range of 40 to 60 million tonne, CPT's productivity had remained stagnant for several years at 13 to 14 million tonne.

Traditional cargo like cashew from Kollam, coir products from Alappuzha, coffee from Karnataka and garments from Coimbatore was being diverted to ports like Tuticorin, Mangalore and Chennai.

He said this had resulted in considerable loss of revenue to the government, CPT and erosion of employment opportunities for people.

A Labour Welfare Board to protect worker's interests at the port would also be constituted, he added.

State Labour Minister P K Gurudasan said collection of money would adversely hit development of the state and interest of labour unions.

Apart from the ministers, CPT Chairman N Ramachandran, Principal Secretary of Industries T Balakrishnan, DIG K Padmakumar, IG A K Sinha and City Police Commissioner P Vijayan also attended the meeting.

UNI MA KD DB1810