The district committee of the Centre for Indian Trade Unions (CITU) has declared that it will resist the transfer of Steel Complex at Cheruvannur in Kozhikode to Chattisgarh Outsourcing Services, based on the recent order of the National Company Law Tribunal.
A meeting of the union on Friday demanded Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) to back out from the partnership and hand over the venture completely to the Kerala government, thus maintaining it in the public sector.
“This move is part of the Centre’s policy to hand over public sector enterprises to the private sector on a platter. We will bring forward the public and the employees to fight against this move,” CITU district president Mampatta Sreedharan said. The union also offered its support to the State government to keep the venture in the public sector.
It was in 2009 that the State government entered into a partnership with SAIL for the management of Steel Complex. The State had cleared its dues until then and had offered shares worth ₹5 crore to SAIL for the joint venture. SAIL was in charge of setting up the re-rolling mill and a showroom for TMT sale, besides managing the manufacturing and sales sections. The ₹45-crore loan from Canara Bank in 2011 was for the re-rolling mill. However, the previous UDF government that came to power at the time paid no attention to the company, as a result of which it could not keep up production as required, the union said.
The CITU alleged that SAIL had failed to keep its end of the deal, which led to the closure of the company in 2015. “It refused to cancel the partnership deal. Also, Canara Bank refused to accept the State’s one-time settlement offer,” Mr. Sreedharan said.
