PALAKKAD: Will the UDF Government be able to sort out the vexed headload workers problems plaguing the state?“Around 195 headload workers of Malampuzha were paid Rs 300 a day as “Nokku Koolie” for nearly a year (till November 2010) when not a single load of sand was transported out. They would sign the register in the morning and then go to do their work. Some of them are fishermen who would catch fish from the dam, others are tapping workers and some of them own small coconut and rubber plantations. The only criterion for being paid Rs 300 daily was that you should have a valid trade union membership card. The loss to the exchequer was Rs 1 crore by way of “Nokku Koolie” in Malampuzha alone for no sand sold and no work done,” say sources with the Kerala Mineral Development Corporation Limited (KMDCL) which had been entrusted with the job of tendering the sand.“Earlier, the LDF Government had constituted a sub-committee consisting of Finance Minister, Electricity Minister, Industry Minister, Revenue and Water Resources Minister to oversee the mining of sand from the various dams in the state. Now, the new government has to constitute such a sub-committee and sort out the matter,” says KMDCL managing director Vimalan.At present, 60,000 m3 sand is lying on the banks of the Malampuzha dam worth nearly Rs 3.90 crore and over 30,000 m3 in the Chulliyar dam costing nearly Rs 1.80 crore waiting to be washed back into the dam in the rain. It is only in the Walayar dam that the sand totaling 40,000 m3 which had been mined was being disposed of. There are 195 workers in Malampuzha and 97 workers in the Chulliyar dam who were demanding wages without work. The contractors are not allowed to load the sand in a Hitachi crane stating that it should be done manually even if it takes months together,” say sources who were associated with the exercise.“The LDF Government and Finance Minister Thomas Isaac who had for the first time mooted the idea of mining sand from the dams of the state, albeit with noble intentions, to fill the state’s coffers had for once underestimated the militancy of the headload work force in Kerala,” says Vijayan, a native of Malampuzha.After paying “Nokku Koolie” of over Rs 1 crore in Malampuzha, the LDF Government stated that the workers should do forest work if there was no work of loading the lorries. While the 58 headload workers of the Walayar dam were receptive to the idea, it was opposed by the workers of Malampuzha and Chulliyar. The workers of the Walayar dam had worked for over two months in the forests and were paid wages by the department.The KMDCL which had even borrowed funds from Malabar Cements for its working capital is still in a sticky situation given the fact that the sand was lying on the banks.“I had bid for the tender to mine and filter the sand in Malampuzha. Only if the sand is transported from the banks will I be able to know the quantity transported. KMDCL had to pay me a sum of Rs 80 lakh which was pending. Now the roads have been repaired but the workers were preventing the loading of sand,” says Sudhakaran who had undertaken the contract to mine sand.He added that around 1 lakh m3 of sand has been sold and around 60,000 m3 still remains to be transported out. Similarly, it is reported that the person who had bid for the sand to sell it outside was also to be paid a sum of Rs 17 lakh.Therefore, it would be an acid test for the new Government and Chief Minister Oommen Chandy to stop this daylight extortion of taxpayers’ money by the headload workers.
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