COIMBATORE: With Deepavali around the corner, an estate owner in Nilgiris surprised his employees by gifting two-wheelers of their choice, LCD TVs and a cash bonus. P Sivakumar (42), a native of Vanjipalayam in Tiruppur, has a 190-acre tea estate, and vegetable and flowers garden in the rest of his 315-acre property near Kotagiri. A total of 627 employees have been working in the estate for the last two decades.
Sivakumar also manages his father’s garment manufacturing units. He lives with his wife Dharanya and son Dhanvanth (13). Sources said Sivakumar started with 60 acres of land. As a token of appreciation for the worker's contribution to his growth, Sivakumar used to gift household appliances and cash bonuses for the last five years. This year, he bought bikes worth over Rs 2 lakh each for 15 employees such as the manager, supervisor, storekeeper, cashier, field staff and drivers.
Speaking to TNIE, Sivakumar said, “Employees have contributed a lot to my growth, Having bought them electronic appliances in the past, I wanted to gift bikes to a few workers and bought them on Sunday.” Apart from bikes 15 workers, other workers were given LCD TVs and an 18% bonus.
As workers wanted to admit their children to an English medium school, he appointed two teachers in Nedugula panchayat primary school near the estate and has been paying them salaries for the last three years. The school, which was on the verge of closure, currently has the strength of 320 students, of which 80 are from the estate. Also, Sivakumar runs a pharmacy where workers can get medicines free of cost.