Kanjikode trade hartal on Oct 8

The Save Kanjikode Industrial Forum (SKIF), a combination of trade unions representing workers employed in the Kanjikode industrial area of Palakkad, has given a one-day hartal call on October 8 to protest against "the indifferent attitude" of the Kerala government. The state government's attitude is alleged to have led to the closure of around 36 big and medium units, and 150 small units in the area.

SKIF convenor S B Raju said their objective was to seek the state government's intervention to resolve the problems resulting from the closure of the 186 units over the last 10 years, which in rendered around 11,000 people jobless.

According to SKIF, the hartal was called for as the state government was not taking any steps to either avert these closures or to reopen the units. Unless the government intervenes and takes corrective measures more such units will close down and more people will lose their jobs, he added.

Claiming that almost all workers in the existing 313 units will stay away from work to express their solidarity with the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), Rajendran, the spokesperson of the union, said on that day dharnas would be conducted in front of big units. "If there is no favourable response from the state government, the SKIF leaders would resort to indefinite fast," he added.

The Kanjikode industrial zone, spread over an area of 750 acres in the Palakkad district, is the second largest industrial zone in Kerala after luva in Kochi.