KOLKATA: The Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Wednesday announced a ‘zero tolerance’ policy for high-handed trade unionism and suspended the president of the party’s trade union front in the port and industrial township of Haldia shortly after his arrest on charges of pressurising major industrial units to hire contractors and workers of his choice.
The case was filed on the basis of a complaint lodged by Exide Industries Ltd. which manufactures batteries in Haldia, TMC leaders said.
The accused Indian National Trinamool Trade Union Congress (INTTUC) Haldia unit president, Tapas Maity, was arrested along with three others. They were also charged with extortion.
Bengal law minister Moloy Ghatak and INTTUC state president Ritabrata Banerjee rushed to Haldia and suspended Maity and the party’s special observer for Haldia, Sanjay Banerjee. The post of special observer, which the TMC does not have in other districts, was also summarily abolished.
Maity was replaced by Shibnath Sarkar, a veteran trade union leader.
“The charges against Sanjay Banerjee were serious in nature. He crossed his brief and interfered in internal matters of local industries,” said a senior state TMC leader who did not want to be named.
The action has been taken months before the TMC government hosts the Bengal Global Business Summit scheduled to be held in Kolkata in April. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee has invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi and captains of the industry, including founder chairman of the Adani Group, Gautam Adani, to the event.
{{/usCountry}}The action has been taken months before the TMC government hosts the Bengal Global Business Summit scheduled to be held in Kolkata in April. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee has invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi and captains of the industry, including founder chairman of the Adani Group, Gautam Adani, to the event.
{{/usCountry}}Ghatak and Ritabrata Banerjee have held a three-hour-long meeting with the managements of all 34 big companies operating in Haldia, such as Tata Steel, Indian Oil Corporation, Hindustan Unilever and Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd.
“The only work of the trade union is to look after the interests of workers, to see if they are getting their salaries and perks on time. Trade unions cannot interfere in managerial matters,” Ghatak said.
“The actions have been taken as part of the zero tolerance policy that has been adopted,” said Ritabrata Banerjee.
“The law minister and Banerjee assured us that there will be no interference from now on,” an Exide Industries official in Haldia said on condition of anonymity.
Gautam Adani met Mamata Banerjee at Nabanna, the state secretariat, on December 2 and held discussions on investments for around 90 minutes. State officials said Banerjee assured Adani that her administration will provide businesses a trouble-free environment. The discussions also included the sea port project that the government is developing with help from the Centre.
Adani tweeted after his meeting that he will attend the summit, which Banerjee projects as the signature of her achievement. “Delighted to meet @MamataOfficial, Hon’ble Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Discussed different investment scenarios and the tremendous potential of West Bengal. I look forward to attending the Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS) in April 2022,” Adani tweeted after meeting the chief minister.
Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani has attended the summit in the past and has been invited again.
Banerjee invited Prime Minister Modi to inaugurate the Bengal Global Business Summit in Kolkata on April 20 during her visit to Delhi on November 24.
In recent years, the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has accused the TMC government of ruining the state’s economy and failing to draw investments despite the chief minister’s foreign trips. Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar, too, has demanded a white paper from the government on actual investments made after previous business summits.
Reacting to the arrest of the INTTUC leaders on Wednesday, Bengal Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said, “The action must have been taken because the TMC’s interests were hampered. This has nothing to do with safeguarding industries.”
Leader of the opposition in the Bengal assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, said the disciplinary action and arrests were an eyewash. “All this is an eyewash. After coming to power in the assembly polls last year, the TMC started making all efforts to control the industries in Haldia. There is constant tussle among local TMC leaders,” said Adhikari.