Kochi: Metro construction activities at the Muttom coach maintenance depot was disrupted yet again on Friday. This forced the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) to take up the issue with the district collector and police on the ground that the project would miss the deadline with these repeated interruptions.
Leaders of the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) entered the site and demanded that they be provided a share of the piling works in the stabling yard coming up at the location. They soon protested, forcing the metro authorities to stop the work.
“They forcefully halted the work and even threatened to disrupt metro construction works elsewhere in the city if their members were not given a share in the metro works. We’ve taken up the issue with district collector M G Rajamanickam and ADGP K Padma Kumar. We’re already walking a tightrope and such disruptions will lead to missing the deadline for project completion,” metro sources said.
The BMS, meanwhile, blamed the CITU and INTUC unions for precipitating the issue. “The other unions, CITU and INTUC, are not ready to accommodate us, thus violating the agreement with contractor Shila Constructions. We only ask that a share of the work be given to our workers too, which is a democratic right. We’ve submitted a memorandum to collector and Assistant Labour commissioner,” said K S Anil Kumar, Secretary, District Nirmana Thozhilali Sangham, an organisation of construction workers attached to the BMS.
Each triboard engaged in piling works has six workers, three each from the CITU and the INTUC, the unions which oppose including BMS.
