Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh threatens series of protests against Chennai Port Trust

By G Saravanan

Published in The New Indian Express, on August 25, 2010:

CHENNAI: Irked over the continuing irregularities in the administration of the Chennai Port Trust, the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh-affiliated Port and Dock Labour Union hinted that it could be forced to stage a series of demonstrations against the management to ‘bring back the past glory of the port,’ here on Tuesday.

Speaking to Express, general secretary of the BMS-affiliated union at Chennai port R Santhanam said, “We were tired of sending memorandums to the chairman of the trust to rectify anomalies in the administration of the historic port, but nothing seems to be working in favour of the employees as officials work in their fashion.”

“The condition of the administration has become so bad that a senior official in the trust has even completed a full-time law (BL) course from a college, while coming to office regularly, without taking any leave,” Santhanam said.

We also came to know that the guesthouse of the port trust was being misused. The kin of a port trust official had‘booked’ a room at the guest house till the completion of a medical course, he added.

In addition, the overall management of the trust was in a crippled state due to the inordinate delay in filling up vacancies for important posts, Santhanam said.

“A few days ago, the union had handed over a fresh memorandum to the chairman of the port trust seeking his attention on several issues that needed to be addressed for its employees. If the port management fails to act even after these many representations, the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh will stage a series of agitations in the coming weeks to give a wake up call to the higher authorities,” Santhanam warned.