‘Enough is enough’ say traders and educational institutions

Thiruvananthapuram: Recurring hartals in the state have been creating a lot of trouble for the public over the years. Now, a 48-hour strike called by trade unions is expected to face some resistance as many sectors have decided to defy the hartal call.
Establishments and institutions are relieved with the assurance of joint council of trade unions that they wouldn’t forcibly shut down any office or shop. Life is set to be normal in Kovalam, Varkala and Poovar as the organizers have exempted tourism industry from hartal.

The traders under Kerala Vyapari Vyavasayi Ekopana Samithi (KVVES) are planning to open shops on Tuesday. For the first time, the KVVES has constituted teams of youth as ‘blue volunteers’ who will roam around to provide support to traders.

“The contact numbers of blue volunteers were distributed among traders. They can be contacted at the time of any crisis. Being a government-sponsored strike, we don’t expect much support from the police. However, we like to trust the trade unions’ stand that there won’t be any forceful shutdown,” said KVVES district president Peringamala Ramachandran.

Ramachandran said that they finally decided to resist the strike as Tuesday’s general strike would be the 100th strike since 2018. “Opening the shops won’t be of much benefit to us as there will be less number of customers. However, we want to pass a message that enough is enough,” he said.

Pro-CPM Vyapari Vyavasayi Samithi, however, decided to support the strike. Chalai unit treasurer of Samithi Abdul Majid, who is also CPM Chalai branch secretary, said that though there won’t be forceful shutdown, all traders would co-operate with the strike. “Even if some owners wish to open the shops, the labourers are unlikely to come for work. Also, unlike the recent BJP harthal, this is for the benefit for the workers. We announced this strike months in advance,” he said, hinting that the strike would result in total shutdown.

Normal functioning of government and aided educational institutions will be affected as teachers affiliated to various trade unions will not be working. A good number of private schools in the city will not function due to difficulty in arranging transportation for students and staff. However, management of Christ Nagar schools have decided to run classes on both days of strike. Father Bino Pattarkalam, director of Christ Nagar School said that they decided to function as several working days had already been lost due to strikes. “The government must take necessary measures for the safe commutation of students,” he said. All schools under the Christ Nagar management will function normally and school buses will transport students as usual.

All-Kerala Federation of Petroleum Traders (AKPT) has asked petrol pump owners to open pumps if they wish to. “Working of petrol pumps depends on lot of factors such as availability of labourers, supply of fuel from the terminal and customers. Pumps will operate only if banks function,” said Melathu Radhakrishnan, state general secretary of AKPT.

But, most of the pumps are likely to remain shuts as labourers may go for strike. The Supplyco petrol pump at Statue, which normally functions on hartals won’t function for two days as employees, belonging to CITU union, decided to join the 48-hour protest.