It’s sunset for HIL Udyogamandal unit: Vrs or transfer for employees

It is the end of an era. The Kerala unit of central public sector insecticides manufacturer Hindustan Insecticides Ltd, located at Udyogamandal in Kochi is pulling the shutters down. The management has decided to wind up its operations in Kerala as the Udyogamandal unit incurred a loss of Rs 35 crore in the last financial year. According to sources, chairman and managing director S P Mohanty has made a proposal to wind up the Kerala unit.

As per the proposal, senior employees aged above 55 years will be offered voluntary retirement while others will be redeployed to Punjab and Maharashtra units. The HIL Udyogamandal unit has 107 permanent employees and 22 contract workers.

When contacted, HIL Udyogamandal unit head Pramod D Sankpal refused to respond on the issue.

“These are all internal matters and we cannot discuss it with the media,” he said.

Meanwhile, HIL employees Joint Trade Union Council has decided to take up the matter with the top management. A delegation of trade union leaders is planning to meet Minister D V Sadananda Gowda,  and submit a memorandum urging to save Kerala’s first central PSU from an ignominious exit.

It was the ban on endosulfan and the decision to shut down the DDT,  BHC and dicofol plants in 2018 that landed the PSU in crisis.

Presently HIL is manufacturing only agricultural fungicide Mancozeb and herbicides glyphocet and pendimethalin. The plan to start manufacturing bio fertilisers and to sell the 14.39 acres of land at Gurugram in Haryana to raise working capital did not materialise.

“The employees are not responsible for the present crisis. The management could not ensure regular supply of raw materials which adversely affected productivity. Officers were transferred indiscriminately which forced many experienced employees to resign,” said HIL Employees Union (CITU) secretary B Manoj.

“The management has informed the trade unions about the decision to announce VRS and to transfer other employees. It is lack of support from the management that has worsened the situation. The productivity of the unit has come down to 24 per cent due to shortage of raw materials. As there is no bulk purchase we are forced to purchase raw materials from market at a higher rate. Low productivity led to a spike in maintenance cost,” said HIL Employees Organisation general secretary K N Roopesh.

“If the management decides to go ahead with the decision to shut down the unit, we will launch an agitation to save it,” said HIL Workers Union secretary V A Sakeer.