The Hindu : Karnataka News : Power supply to quarters of V.V. sugar unit disconnected

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Dec 25, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka

Power supply to quarters of V.V. sugar unit disconnected

Staff Correspondent

A few former workers now run petty businesses
Some are working as casual workers for survival

SWEET MEMORIES: Vani Vilas Sugar Factory in Hiriyur taluk of Chitradurga district.

Chitradurga: As many as 182 former employees of Vani Vilas Cooperative Sugar Factory of Hiriyur taluk, who were already in despair because of the non-disbursement of salaries for 27 months, the disconnection of electricity supply from their quarters has only rubbed salt on their wounds.

On November 29, power supply was disconnected to the factory citing dues of Rs. 36 lakh.

Following the disconnection, the families of the employees were forced to live in the dark, the schoolchildren and college students were worst affected, said Tippeswamy, a leader of Vani Vilas Employees’ Association.

He said that after the closure of the factory, the employees faced immense problems because their sole source of earning was lost.

Mr. Tippeswamy said the factory, which was set up in 1972, could not function properly because of lack of political will and allegations of corruption.

The crushing capacity of the factory was around 1,250 tonnes. Over 500 people were directly or otherwise depending on the factory.

The workers, who were earning around Rs. 7,000 a month, were now involved in petty business or have become casual workers.

He said that it was in 1984 that the district faced acute drought. In the absence of raw material, the factory was not in a position to function.

The situation prevailed till 1996.

But with all the difficulties, the factory resumed work. Although the factory ran for another decade, but following the huge loss, it was again closed in 2004. The factory had a debt of about Rs. 30 crore. “Before closing the factory, compensation or relief was not announced for the workers. Pension had not been settled and the amount of gratuity not given,” said Siddappa, an employee.

The factory owned 288 acres of land, a portion of land had been given to a private distillery on rent and a few acres were purchased by National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) for widening the road. The distillery owed Rs. 1.6 crore while the NHAI was supposed to pay Rs. 12 crore to the factory.

Demand

Mr. Siddappa demanded that the Government recover the amount to settle the salary and compensation.

When contacted, liquidator of V.V. Sugar Factory B.K. Chennappagowda told The Hindu that the Government had decided to review the factory by leasing it out.

On clearing debt, he said that since both, owners of distillery and NHAI had filed cases in the High Court on various grounds, the funds could not be recovered from them. He said that a tender had been invited on December 27 for leasing out the factory.

“If the tender is finalised, the amount received as deposit would be used to clear the debt”, he said.

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