KOCHI: The installation of automated fertiliser-bagging unit procured by the Cochin Port is delayed with the trade unions registering stiff protest over the use of machine to bag the fertilisers. Though the bagging unit reached the port in the first week of March, the management could not operate the machine owing to protest from the part of trade unions.Following this, the port management had recently written to the state government seeking its intervention to solve the uncertainty. However, the state government is yet to intervene. “There were meetings at Labour Commissioner-level to discuss the matter. But, it is yet to come up at the ministerial-level,”said Labour Minister Shibu Baby John.The bagging unit comprises grabs, hopper, bagging plant, weighing machines, stitching machines and a conveyor belt. Each bagging plant comprises two bagging lines. A bagging unit can handle 140 tonnes of fertilizer (2,800 bags of 50 kg) an hour.The port management was prompted to introduce mechanisation owing to the recent delay in clearing fertilisers imported by the FACT and the Indian Potash Limited in November last year.Around 24,000 tonnes of urea and 27,000 tonnes of potash remained uncleared at the godowns for the want of labourers. The Kerala Head Load Workers Welfare Fund Board (KHWWB), which was supposed to supply labourers, was not able to provide enough labourers to clear the load. The cause of the shortage was the compartmentalisation of labourers into various pools within the Welfare Board under which more than 2,500 workers have registered. The Welfare Board was able to supply only around 40 workers on an average against a demand of 120.The issue of low rate of clearance of imported fertilisers had an adverse impact on the agricultural sector and resulted in skyrocketing of prices.The bagging unit was imported by Lots Shipping Company. KHWWB chairman advocate K P Haridas said that a meeting of all trade unions would be convened on April 21 to discuss the matter “We have already spoken to different trade unions. Its expected that the issue would be solved at the meet,” Haridas said.He added that though there was a proposal to merge labourers into a single pool, the Cochin Thuramukha Thozhilali Union(CTTU) registered a stiff protest.“A practical suggestion is that to utilise available labourers and the remaining work may be completed with the help of machine,” he said.
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