The Hindu : Implement court package for gold mine employees: CM

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Feb 14, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Implement court package for gold mine employees: CM

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI, FEB. 13. The Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa, has written to the Union Minister of Coal and Mines, Mamata Banerjee, appealing to her to implement the recommendations made by the Karnataka High Court for rehabilitation of 4,000 employees of the Bharat Gold Mines Limited (BGML) belonging to Tamil Nadu.

The Chief Minister said she received a communication on November 21 last from the then Union Minister of State for Mines, Ramesh Bais, in which he said a Division Bench of the High Court had recommended disbursement of Rs. 5,000 per employee to tide over difficulties and the suggestion had been complied with.

The Chief Minister said she received a copy of the judgment, in which the Bench had made other recommendations, including extension of the voluntary retirement scheme (VRS), transfer of quarters/houses allotted to the employees at concessional rates without charging for the value of old structures, including to those who had accepted the VRS.

The Bench directed that the excess land held by BGML be allotted to needy ex-employees and that they be helped to form cooperative societies by providing land and machines and equipment so that they could take up projects with their specialised knowledge and expertise.

She said almost four months had passed since the court made these recommendations. Most of the employees had rendered more than 25 years of service and would find it very difficult to obtain alternative employment.

As a majority of the workers belonged to the SC/ST category and economically weaker sections, Ms. Jayalalithaa urged the Union Minister to implement the recommendations expeditiously.

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