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‘Nokkukooli’ is extortion: Minister

KOLLAM: Labour Minister P.K. Gurudasan has said that the controversial ‘nokkukooli’ cannot be considered a labour dispute.

Talking to The Hindu here on Tuesday, the Minister said that demanding nokkukooli is an extortion which could draw police action. Victims of nokkukooli should take the initiative and lodge police complaints.

However, the Minister says he is very confident that “99.9 per cent of the headload workers will not demand nokkukooli.” Such extortions take place only in some pockets. Many a time employers themselves promote nokkukooli for vested interests.

The government does not endorse such excesses. No one can extort money. Since nokkukooli is not a labour dispute there is no need for the Labour Department to intervene in the issue. The police will have to deal with such things.

Mr. Gurudasan said the Left Democratic Front government had taken effective measures, mainly through talks, to put an end to such excesses. The Kochi port as an example. There, the workers no more demand ‘kettukooli’ over containers. The Minister claimed that, in fact, there is no headload worker related labour dispute inside the port.

But such a payment still continues for tying tarpaulin over consignments loaded on to trucks.

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