A divide yet be bridged

Jisha Surya
First Published : 04 Mar 2010

The Thiruvananthapuram Road Development Company Limited (TRDCL), a private consortium executing the road development projects in the city, is seeing the devil and the deep sea on either side of two bridges in the city.
The construction works are often getting stalled as the headload workers’ unions on both sides of the KIMS bridge and Chackai bridge are demanding an equal share of ‘nokkukooli’ and unloading charges.
 If the Venpalavattom and Anamukham units are fighting for their pie at the KIMS bridge, the Airport and Chackai units are causing a headache for the TRDCL regarding the Chackai bridge work.
 “There was a strange demand in the beginning. Unload material equally on both sides of the bridge,’’ said a source. Later, it was modified in such a way that the unloading work and charges need to be equally distributed to workers on both sides. The workers’ union will intervene even when the unloaded materials are manually transported to the other side of the bridge. That is, if a piece of stone needs to be taken to Venpalavattom side from its storage point on Anamukham side, only workers belonging to Venpalavattom units can do that and vice versa.
 Sources said the practice of ‘nokkukooli’ still exists here. The contractors have to pay ‘nokkukooli’ for these unions even when the materials are unloaded using cranes.
 Last April, the KIMS bridge works were stalled for two months over a dispute related to the unloading of readymix supplied by the Poabs Group. Even though the mix could be supplied through pumps, the union did not allow the Group to deliver it. The dispute reached the labour court and was finally settled with the intervention of various political leaders.
 Pro-CITU headload workers’ Anamukham unit convenor Mohan said there was nothing wrong in dividing the work equally among all. ``There are two groups in Chackai and KIMS sites. Our area has five units. The Venpalavattom area has four units. In order to avoid disputes within these units, works must be divided among all. There is no ‘nokkukooli’ now,’’ he added.
 Recently, the Kuravankonam-Kowdiar road works were stalled for two weeks when ‘nokkukooli’ was demanded for the unloading of large cement blocks for the construction of drains.
 According to an official who we met at the site, the trail of corruption would lead to the top politicians. ``The CITU, INTUC, BMS etc are all involved in this issue. They are abusing the onsite workers. The police won’t intervene as it is a labour dispute. Nobody is there to question this injustice. Companies like Punj Lloyd have  declared that they won’t take up road works in Kerala again,’’ he said.
 Fed up with the union issues, the company has purposefully avoided local workers in the construction. Workers from Ernakulam, Kollam and Kozhikode, who are experts in bridge construction, are working round-the-clock to meet the deadline.
jisha@expressbuzz.com