MSEZ agrees to provide jobs to trained youth within two weeks

Mangalore, March 26: Members of the families displaced by the Mangalore Special Economic Zone Project will be given letters of appointment within two weeks for employing them in companies within MSEZ, MRPL and OMPL in three years depending on their eligibility. This was decided at a meeting chaired by district in-charge Minister J. Krishna Palemar here on Friday.

With this, the family members ended their 25-day dharna in front of the office of the Deputy Commissioner here.

The decision was taken at a closed-door meeting. Students from project-displaced families who have obtained training at the Karnataka Polytechnic, MP Nalin Kumar Kateel, MSEZ Chief Operating Officer A.G. Pai, Deputy Commissioner Subodh Yadav, Commissioner of Police Seemanth Kumar Singh, Managing Director of Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited U.K Basu, and Bajrang Dal lawyer Jagadish Shenava took part in the meeting.

Mr. Palemar, Mr. Kateel, student leader R.N. Shetty Kalavaru and district leader of the Vishwa Hindu Parishat Satyajit Surathkal announced the decision of the meeting at a press conference later.

Mr. Palemar said Mr. Pai would get back to the students after consulting higher officials of the company. The agreement at present was to give students letters of appointment within three weeks for appointing them in companies under MSEZ, MRPL and OMPL within three years in accordance with their eligibility. Students would be recruited if there were jobs before then, Mr. Palemar said.

A trust would be formed to disburse unemployment allowance, which the students had sought to be increased by Rs. 2,000 to Rs. 10,000 a month, he said.

On whether the MSEZ would keep the promise, Mr. Palemar said: “If a government company could not be trusted, then …” he added that “naturally” there was distrust because MRPL did not provide jobs to the students. “When people give companies their land, they must be provided jobs,” he said.

Mr. Palemar said that of the 1,661 project displaced families, 1,063 had to be given jobs as 598 families took compensation in lieu of jobs. Of the 1,063 families, 93 people had been given jobs. MRPL, which was supposed to employ 183 people, had taken in 86; OMPL had 302 jobs but provided three, and MSEZ would provide employment to the rest, Mr. Palemar said.

Mr. Kalavaru said that the arrangement was satisfactory and they had opted to set up a trust for “technical and legal reasons”.

Representatives of MRPL, MSEZ and the families would form the trust, he said. Damodar, a student, said that they were satisfied with the arrangement.