Rs 6 Cr worth unpaid salaries, benefits: Workers seize 430 acres of cardamom estate in Idukki

Upputhara (Idukki): Workers from the Nedumparambil cardamom estate in Idukki’s Upputhara have taken control of 430 acres of the plantation due to the management’s failure to pay salaries, gratuity, and bonuses. The workers seized the estate the other day and divided the land among 325 workers.

The estate, which employs 270 permanent workers, 30 temporary workers, and 25 office staff, will only be returned to the owner once the owed payments are made. The workers have decided to stay on the estate, take care of it, and sustain themselves until their demands are met.

The management owes each worker around Rs 70,000 in unpaid wages, along with additional amounts for two years of bonuses, gratuity for former employees, and salary arrears as revised by the government. Despite many  discussions and negotiations by Taluk and District Labour Department officials, no steps have been taken to resolve the crisis. Efforts by senior Labour Department officials also failed to resolve the issue.

The estate’s owners, including NM Raju, who ran Nedumparambil Credit Syndicate was recently jailed for financial fraud, have left the estate’s operations in turmoil. The plantation was previously profitable under Karimattam management but has faced issues since 2016, when the current management took over, said the labourers.

The trade union leaders have stated that the management needs to pay a total of around Rs 6 crore to settle the dues owed to the workers.