Brahmavar sugar factory staff stage stir
The labourers of Brahmavar Sugar factory staged a protest against the government and managing board of the factory for having violated the High Court order on paying wage arrears, by holding black flag in front of Deputy Commissioner’s officer on Sunday.
The labourers demanded justice. The cooperative sugar factory which was started in 1984, had given livelihood to more than 200 labourers. However, since the closure of the factory, till date, the labourers have not received any wages from the factory and have been leading their life by borrowing loan from banks.
Though an attempt to revive the factory in 2008 had brought smiles on the face of the labourers, the attempt remained only on paper. From 1985 till 2001-02, about 1.15 lakh metric tonne sugarcane has been crushed in the factory. However, when Jayasheela Shetty was managing the factory, he failed to provide money for the sugarcane purchased from farmers and owing to the negligence of the management of the factory, the work on sugarcane crushing was stopped completely, allege labourers.
The labourers had filed a petition in the High Court questioning the closure of the factory. The High Court in its order dated August 28, 2010 had asked the management to pay the wage arrears and other facilities in the next six months. However, the money is yet to be deposited in the account of the labourers.
Ups and downs
“When Ramani Group of companies came forward to take the sugar factory for lease for 30 years in 2008, once again there was hope for 220 labourers. However, the hope was shortlived as the company failed to take over the factory. Once again in 2010, a Andhra Pradesh based entrepreneur had come forward to take over the factory and had promised to pay the arrears of Rs 1.40 crore to the labourers. However, the promise has remained only a promise. The management and the elected representatives are playing with the lives of labourers,” said Sugar factory labourers Association President S Bhaskar Shetty.
There are about 48 residential quarters for the factory labourers. Of which, 13 families are residing in it. The quarters is denied of water and electricity and other basic facilities. The protesters submitted a memorandum to in-charge Deputy Commissioner T M Prabhakar.
