Unbelievable! But, the letter, No. L-43024/5/97-IR (Misc), shot off last month by a minor union labour ministry functionary, a desk officer, did authorise the public sector Hindustan Copper management to close down its `loss-making' Mosaboni mines to throw over 2,000 workers out of job with effect from December 1. Effectively, this means a company has been allowed by the government to close down one of its divisions and the workers employed there just because the unit is unviable and eating into the profits of other divisions. In other words, the contentious exit policy makes a back-door entry in the government's own undertakings. This has been done subtly, without any fuss.

No wonder, the national dailies as well as the electronic media appear to be almost totally ignorant of the development at Hindustan Copper's Mosaboni mines in Bihar's East Singhbhum (Ghatsila) district. A few small Hindi publications from Ranchi, Jamshedpur, Ghatsila areas have been making some noise, but that is yet to reach the powers that be in Delhi. For obvious reasons, the government has not found it necessary to issue a press release on its decision to close down the copper mines from next month. Nor, the affected workers and their trade unions have resorted to any violent agitation against the labour ministry's permission to attract attention of the national press and leftist politicians championing the cause of the downtrodden.

Other day, when I raised the issue before a Congress MP, Gyan Ranjan, from nearby Ranchi, he said he had already taken up the matter with the departmental secretary. "Don't worry, we will not allow this to happen. Hindustan Copper can't fire those innocent workers, like that. If these mines are unviable, let them open new ones to engage them," he thundered while a fellow journalist standing by yawned. I don't know how Gyan Ranjan can stop the Hindustan Copper management from closing down the mines at this late stage. The labour ministry's desk officer, who addressed the letter to the Hindustan Copper CMD conveying the government's permission to close down the mines, had already dispatched its copies to the general secretaries of the four recognised unions, Mosaboni Mines Labour Union, Copper Mazdoor Union, Jharkhand Khan Mazdoor Sangh and Copper Kamgar Union, and the Dhanbad-based regional labour commissioner.

Only one of the unions, Copper Mazdoor Union, seems to have chalked up any concrete plan for agitation. Pritish Chanda, president of the union, affiliated to UTUC (Lenin Sarani), has even charged the labour ministry with concocting the unions' representations mentioned in the letter under the "workers side". If this union's allegation of the labour ministry deliberately doctoring the statements of the union leaders during the hearing session is true, it only establishes what an industry-bureaucracy nexus can achieve under the present political leadership in Delhi. In fact, the hearing was made before a joint secretary in the union labour ministry, Padma Balasubramanian, on September 8, last. The ministry's letter mentioned that the trade union representatives merely "submitted that the company should have made adequate developmental investments over the years to prevent sickness of the mine. They also pleaded for payment of retrenchment compensation equivalent to six years' salary of the workmen if the closure of the industrial establishment is unavoidable."

Personally, I suspect an industry-bureaucracy nexus to help the HCL management get rid of over 2,000 workers in these mines because of the way the labour ministry dealt with the matter and its total lack of concern for the helpless employees. While its closure order did not express its views on compensation to such a large number of workers, mostly tribals, it only took note of the management plea that if these unviable mines were not closed, the entire company will turn sick. The management argued in favour of the closure of these mines citing "rising production costs at a depth of 1.2 km," lowering of the copper import duty from 140 per cent in the '80s to 32 per cent now and slump in the London Metal Exchange price of copper at only around $24,000 per tonne.

I don't deny the facts presented by the management. Yet, they alone do not justify the closure of these mines. But, the labour ministry's anti-labour action does exactly that. It said : "having regard to the genuineness and adequacy of the reasons stated by the management and also keeping in view of the interest of the general public and all other relevant factors, permission of the government is hereby granted for closure of the industrial establishment at Mosaboni Mines w.e.f. December 1, 1997."

What a clear cut labour ministry order it is! Do we still need to debate on an IMF-sponsored exit policy in Parliament or outside, after such an order. This is exactly what industry has been demanding from the government: the permission to close down `unviable' or `uneconomic' units without offering genuinely viable alternatives to those normally underpaid workers. Indian workers, who are not protected by any social security scheme as offered by capitalist democracies in the West and Japan, will not have any job security, either. If HCL finally gets rid of those Mosaboni miners, the government will have little reason to prevent closure of thousands of other sick units and divisions of corporates in the both public and private sectors and retrenchment of the workers associated with such units for the long term viability of the promoter companies.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.