Thousand days is quite a long period to survive, especially if you have to run a family without a steady income. For many of the employees of the English Indian Clays Ltd. (EICL) at Veli, it has been quite an ordeal since the company put out a ‘temporary’ lockout notice on August 9, 2020.
As the lockout hits 1,000 days this week, some have quit and taken up other jobs, most of them part-time work with lesser pay, some are still sticking around with the hope of the factory reopening.
“I am 55 years old now and struggling to even fund the education of my two daughters. It is quite difficult to find a new job or learn a new trade at this age. I have defaulted on all my payments. They should atleast try to shift the remaining employees to the plant at Thonnakkal which is functioning,” says Radhakrishnan Nair, an employee.
The Thapar Group of Companies took over the ownership of the company in the early 1990s. Till then, it was a joint venture between a local entrepreneur with U.K.-based English China Clays Ltd. The clay deposits in the region with high kaolinite content made the processed clay from here a sought-after material for a variety of companies, including paint, paper, ink and even eye-liner manufacturing companies.
A High Court order in 2018 prohibited the company from mining clay at Melthonnackal and Veyiloor villages, creating a shortage of raw materials. But it later managed to restart operations using alternate mining locations at Thonnakkal. However, it was closed down in August 2020, with the management also pointing at the lack of demand from clients for not reopening, despite persistent demands from employees’ unions.
The State government had held several rounds of meetings with the management to make the factory functional again. The latest such meeting was held in October 2022 in which Industries Minister P. Rajeeve, Labour Minister V. Sivankutty and Transport Minister Antony Raju participated. After the meeting, it was announced that the company would reopen within 45 days of securing environmental clearance for extraction of clay. However, the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) is yet to provide the clearance.
“Though measures were discussed for reopening the factory, the management does not seem to be keen on it. However, if the intention is to close down the factory without providing the necessary benefits to the employees, the Labour department will take the necessary action to protect the interests of the workers,” Mr. Sivankutty told The Hindu.
According to a company official, steps are still being taken to secure the mining clearance. When the company closed down temporarily, there were 165 employees on the rolls, out of which only 50 remain, as per the official. Some of them have shifted to the company’s plants in Gujarat and at Thonnakkal, while some others have quit.
