CHENNAI: The Union Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers withdrew its decision to shift the headquarters of the Central Institute of Plastic Engineering (CIPET) from Chennai to Delhi. The decision was reportedly taken following protests by workers union, which was supported by political parties.
In a release, P Balakrishnan, chairman, United forum of Central Institute of Plastic Engineering Unions (UFCU), expressed gratitude for all those who backed them. He also thanked Union Minister of Chemical and Fertiliser H Ananth Kumar for deciding to drop the idea.
“The representatives of UFCU will call on the minister after ascertaining his convenient date. The minister’s proposal to establish another head office at New Delhi was quite amazing,” he said.
Earlier, DMK veteran M Karunanidhi condemned the decision of the Centre to shift the CIPET headquarters out of Chennai and said it was being done with an ulterior motive.
Express has reported about the Centre’s move and CIPET governing council rejecting the proposal. CIPET, funded by the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, was established in Chennai in 1968 with an objective of promoting plastic tools and dye-making industries in India.
Recently, the Centre ordered to shift the institute headquarters to New Delhi for administrative reasons. The CIPET workers union had claimed that bad blood between the States over Cauvery issue was the reason behind this move. Another reason was to transfer the corpus fund of `1,540 crore which was reserved for future development of the institution on the Chennai campus and plans were made to use it for 11 new centres.