Centre to intervene in NLC stalemate

Chennai:

Union Minister of Labour and Employment Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday said that Centre will intervene in the Neyveli Lignite Corporation issue only after getting a report from the Union labour commissioner and state government and the demands put forth by the representatives of labour union will be tackled as per the law.

Speaking to reporters after inaugurating the new Silver Jubilee Building of National Instructional Media Institute here, Kharge said he is awaiting the report from the two entities before taking decision.

“Whatever demands are there it should be tackled as per law,” said Kharge. The minister’s statement comes in the wake of opposition parties in the state seeking Centre’s intervention after the failure of tripartite talks between striking Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC) contract workers, NLC’s management and labour officials last week.

The trade union representatives have urged the NLC management to fulfil the settlement plans announced on June 16, 2008 and October 30, 2010.

Earlier, the minister said that the nation’s training capacity, which was nine lakh per year, has been increased to 26 lakh. He said Union government through director general employment and training has executed many plans to develop a skilled workforce in the country.

“We have now 9,480 ITIs both in government and private sector imparting training for around 13.38 lakh trainees in 124 trades,” he said.

He said that training institutes alone cannot meet the industry’s ever-increasing demand of a skilled workforce. “Properly validated, affordable and practical oriented instructional material has to be made available to the emerging workforce where most of them are from economically weaker sections,” he added.