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Muthoot group MD George Alexander injured after attack on his car, management blames CITU
The Muthoot Group, with more than 600 branches in Kerala, has been battling workers’ unrest for last two years.
The managing director of leading gold financing company Muthoot Finance Limited was injured in a stone-pelting incident in Kerala’s Kochi on Tuesday.
A group of workers, allegedly belonging to CPI(M)-backed Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), pelted George Alexander’s car with stones. He suffered injuries on his head and shoulder and was rushed to a private hospital in Kochi.
A section of employees has been agitating against the Muthoot management over dismissal of 160 staff from the company’s 43 branches across the state in December.
“The CITU has wrecked several business establishments in the state. It wants Muthoot to pull down its shutters. When the whole country is in the grip of a severe meltdown such acts will tarnish image of the state further,” a spokesperson of the group said. The spokesperson further said out of 2800 employees in the state, at least 200-250 are members of the union but they seek outside forces to disrupt work. He said more than 70 per cent employees are women and they are physically attacked when they come to work.
The CITU has, however, rejected the allegations, saying the trade union outfit has no role in the incident. “We don’t believe in such type of violent mode of agitation,” CITU leader Ananthalavattom Anandan told the media.
The Muthoot Group, with more than 600 branches in Kerala, has been battling workers’ unrest for last two years. Two days back, employees supporting a strike and those opposing it came to blows.
Many industrialists like V Guard Group chairman Kochouseph Chittilapilly and others have condemned the attack on Muthoot group MD. An official of the Confederation of Indian Industries Kerala chapter also condemned the incident, saying “it is a matter of great concern”.
