Mangaluru: Clarifying on the protest occurred after contract workers deployed at the pump house were forcibly evacuated, NMPT in a press release stated that, “Contract employees are not appointed directly by the NMPT, but they were employed by the outsourced contractor. Industrial Fire and Safety Services, Vadodara, Gujarat and their sub-contractor Nisarga Engineers, Mangaluru. NMPT is no way concerned with the deployment of these manpower. As per the contract terms and conditions entered with the outsourced contractor, the deployment of required manpower with required qualification rests with the contractor only.”
The earlier contract for operation and maintenance of firefighting facilities at NMPT expired on December 31, 2020, a new contract was awarded through competitive bidding process afresh from January 1, 2021. “The Bidder, Indus Fire Safety Pvt. Ltd., Vadodara informed that he had selected 6 out of the 22 previously deployed workers. However, only one of them had accepted the offer and hence the contractor arranged qualified and suitable local people towards fulfilling the contractual obligations,” stated the press release.
“The contract workers were trying to build pressure on the Vadodara-based contractor to provide all of them jobs under the newly awarded contract at the same place. The contractor has already engaged local contract staff to fulfill obligation under contract. The dispute raised by the aggrieved former contract staff is pending before the Assistant Labour Commissioner, Mangaluru.”
NMPT also stated that, “With the intervention of MP, the contractor had offered jobs for 16 former contract workers at various workplaces, where he is executing the contracts. However, the contract workers did not accept the offer and never responded. NMPT also made an effort to accommodate majority of them through other outsourced manpower contractor, however only 5 among them accepted the offer and joined the contract jobs at NMPT from July 1.”
In the press release NMPT also claimed that, “the allegation made by these staff or union is false, baseless and far from truth with intention to tarnish the image of NMPT in the minds of locals. NMPT which is a Central Government administered Port is giving all appointments to locals only, though there is no such stipulation or rule from Central Government.”
