Baalu urges unions to call off strike at Cochin Port

Kochi, Nov 29 (UNI) Union Shipping Minister T R Baalu today urged the unions at Cochin Port to withdraw their three-day-old strike, which has paralysed operations at the port for a second time in a month, and return to duty.

According to a statement by the Cochin Port Trust (CPT) here, he said efforts would be made to resolve all issues through mutual discussions.

Earlier, Mr Baalu held a meeting in New Delhi alongwith Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi, Member of Parliament Chandran Pillai, MP, Secretary, Shipping, A K Mohapatra and CPT Chairman N Ramachandran.

It was decided that Mr Ramachandran will hold a meeting with all trade unions and representatives of the India Gateway Terminals Pvt Ltd (IGTPL) representatives on December one.

The port workers struck work on Tuesday evening to protest against the non-deployment of gangmen for unloading operations at the inland container depot (ICD) of the Rajiv Gandhi Container Terminal at the port.

The container terminal is operated by IGTPL, a subsidiary of Dubai Ports World, which had won the bid to build and operate the upcoming Vallarpadam International Container Transshipment Terminal.

UNI