KANNIYAKUMARI: The workers at Arasu rubber corporation factory in Keeriparai have been staging protest for more than 160 days, demanding Employees' State Insurance (ESI) benefits. As the factory is situated around a forested area, they are struggling to get attention from the state government from last six months.
The Arasu Rubber Corporation has been functioning under the Tamil Nadu Department of Environment and Forest. It has 3,573 hectares of rubber plantations in Kanniyakumari district. While its registered office is at Vadasery in Nagercoil, the factory is located in Keeriparai, which is around 30 km from Nagercoil.
Every day, at least two workers sit in a hunger protest from morning to evening in front of the office. Men and women stage the protest on a rotational basis. Recently, BJP state president Nainar Nagenthiran, in his post on X, urged the state government to pay heed to the demands of the Keeriparai rubber factory workers who are handling Amonia and sulphuric acid on an everyday basis.
The protest committee convener C Rajkumar told TNIE that 52 permanent staff including men and women, had been working in the rubber factory in different shifts for many years. "Urging to provide ESI facilities for the permanent staff and casual workers, we started our protest on last year's November 25 and are continuing it," Rajkumar said.
Anna Estate Worker Union District Secretary R Chandrasekar said, "Though ESI was our main demand, we also want the 12 casual labourers' job at the factory becomes permanent."
A casual worker, T Ajin said that though he had been working in the factory for the past 14 years, he was not made permanent and no ESI facility was provided to him. He could not bear the medical expenses of his family and two children.
"We were dealing with ammonia gas and acid in the factory. Though there is a hospital at Keerparai, its difficult to receive treatment as doctors don't visit the hospital daily," said a staff woman worker M Christal Sunitha.
When contacted, Arasu Rubber Corporation officials said that the rubber factory workers were not eligible for getting ESI facilities as the factory was only processes raw rubber. It did not produce any products. However, we have taken the issue to the government for further actions.