Row Over Expulsion of Woman Entrepreneur
Published: 19th June 2015 06:00 AM | Last Updated: 19th June 2015 04:36 AM | A+A A-
KOCHI: At a time when the state government is firing on all cylinders to promote entrepreneurship among youth, a woman from Koothattukulam, here presented the flip side of the same. Soumya Devi, who herself claims as the lone woman and SC/ST entrepreneur in the rural IT park at Thirumarady panchayat, alleges that she was ousted from the park without citing any reasons.
“I have been running a business establishment named ‘Be Positive’ from the IT park. On June 6, all of a sudden, the CEO of the park Ranjini Bright asked me to vacate the park immediately and even confiscated my bag containing laptop and business documents.
More than that she used casteist remarks and shouted at me. I still don’t know why I had to face such a humiliation,” said Soumya Devi in a press meet, here on Thursday.
When asked whether she had taken up the issue with the management of the IT park, Soumya said that though she had informed the authorities concerned about her plight through an e-mail, they are yet to respond. “Instead of that they informed me that they had decided to terminate my company from the IT park,” she said.
According to her, a complaint against the CEO was filed at the Koothattukulam Police Station and another one was filed with the SC/ST Welfare Department.
“I just had a vague idea that in the name of arrears in remitting rent they plotted a plan against me and succeeded in ousting me,” she said.
Meanwhile, Welfare Party of India representatives who accompanied Soumya said that they were planning to conduct a protest against this and added that other outfits will also join them.
CEO Refutes Allegations
“I belong to the same caste. Then, how could she claim that I hurled casteist remarks against her?” This was Ranjini Bright’s response when Express sought her response on the issue.
According to her, Soumya’s allegations were baseless and added that she was trying to create a scene out of nothing.
“The park is being run with the revenue generated from various companies as rent. In the case of Soumya, she had accumulated rent arrears for the past six years. As directed by the management I called her to my cabin, which she didn’t follow. Then I e-mailed her, citing the direction of the management to clear the arrears as soon as possible. To this she replied rudely and openly challenged the management. The present action might be due to this,” said Ranjini Bright.