Thiruvananthapuram: A group of unionised porters in the city tied themselves in knots when they intimidated actor Sudheer Karamana to pay them Rs 25,000 for an unloading job they did not do. Faced with a backlash of public opinion and stern action from union bosses, the porters apologised and paid back the money to the actor on Monday.
The actor was faced with a harrowing time two weeks ago when he got a load of granite transported from Bengaluru for the house he was building near the Chakka Junction in Thiruvananthapuram. The supplier was supposed to unload the precious cargo but the local porters claimed it was their right.
They demanded Rs 1 lakh for unloading the granite slabs from the lorry. When Karamana refused, the porters blocked the consignment for about six hours and threw expletives at the contractor and his labourers. They even tried to manhandle the supplier’s workers.
The supplier had agreed to unload the consignment for just Rs 16,000. When he honoured the agreement, the local headload workers returned and forced him to pay them Rs 25,000.
When the news leaked out, the CITU suspended 14 of its members involved in the extortion. The INTUC disbanded its local unit. The BJP-linked BMS, however, chose to look away.
After Monday’s reconciliation, the CITU said it would re-induct the 14 porters into its unit. They had been rendered jobless for the past 12 days.
“Their families have had a hard time, on the brink of starvation. We are taking them back because they have apologised. They would start work from Tuesday,” said CITU state secretary V Sivan Kutty.
INTUC district president V R Prathapan said that the union would take a decision on Tuesday on restructuring the local unit.
Karamana had not lodged a complaint against the workers. He said that the workers have assured him that the unfortunate episode would not be repeated.
The talks were held at the office of the Child Welfare Committee where its general secretary S P Deepak offered to mediate. Deepak is a friend of Karamana.
The Kerala government had warned of slapping of non-bailable offences on porters who forced citizens and businesses to pay them even if they did no work.
Karamana said that he had offered the local porters to work on his work site ever since he started the house construction. This particular consignment, however, was too expensive to be left with untrained workers, he said.
Karamana thanked the government and his well-wishers for standing by him after the nasty confrontation. “The Kerala government has taken an exemplary stand in the issue of ‘nokku kooli’. I see the decision as the herald of a new work culture,” he wrote on Facebook.
“I only wish that no one has to go through what I did. People from different walks of life have expressed various opinions on the current labour issue. I did not want to hurt anyone. So I did what I could to end the impasse. I am happy that the political parties did their part,” he added.
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Karamana thanked state minister Kadakampally Surendran, CITU leaders V Sivan Kutty and Jayan Babu and Kazhakkootam labour office staff Krishna Kumar for their proactive stand in the issue. He also thanked the journalists who acted as a corrective force.
Read: Thiruvananthapuram News | Kerala News
