ALAPPUZHA: The labour row at the site of the bypass construction project here was resolved at a meeting held by the labour officer with the workers on Tuesday. Earlier, a dispute between the trade unions and the company on the manual off-loading of the construction materials had affected the work. The unions on Monday blocked the contractors from using cranes and prevented the unloading of iron rods from trailers. As per the agreement reached on Tuesday, the workers would be allowed to offload materials weighing below 65 tonnes.
The piling work for the elevated highway costing Rs 348.43 crore had begun in September last year. In April, the work was hit due to the pending bills. Mr R. Harikumar, labour officer, said that the trade unions had been complaining that their jobs had been hit because of the use of cranes. The issue was resolved at the conciliation meeting,” he said. The 3-km-long elevated highway is being built by connecting two railway overbridges at Kuthirappanthi and Malikamukku.
The company has to complete only 60 percent of works by March, 2017, and construction worth Rs 40 crore has been done so far. A total of 236 piles and 32 pile caps have been completed with 236 piles and 38 caps pending. Mr R. Nazer, district president, CITU, said they wouldn’t oppose the use of cranes anymore, but they should not be used for works that can be done by the
manual workers.
The project, which is being funded jointly by the central and state governments, will have two lanes from Kommadi to Kalarkode. It will have two major and four minor junctions. The 10-metre-wide road will have 1.5-metre paved shoulders on either side. The project is expected to be completed in two years.
