Automatic bagging unit to clear godowns

KOCHI: Aggrieved by the shortage of labourers, the Cochin  Port Trust has decided to procure an automatic bagging unit to clear the imported cargo. The Trust has invited tender for supply of an automatic bagging unit. The move gains significance in the wake of inordinate delay in clearing imported fertilizers from the port’s godowns. “The proposed bagging unit will have a minimum capacity to produce 600 bags of 50 kg per hour. The unit also includes a stitching machine for packing fertilizers,” said the port authorities.What prompted the port management to introduce mechanisation is the recent delay in clearing fertilisers imported by FACT and the Indian Potash Limited. Around 24,000 tonnes of urea and 27,000 tonnes of potash remains uncleared at the godowns for the want of labourers. The fertilisers reached here in the second week of November.The Kerala Head Load Workers Welfare Fund Board was not able to provide enough labourers to clear the load. The cause of the shortage is the compartmentalisation of labourers into various water-tight pools within the Welfare Board, where over 2500 workers are registered.  Despite the lack of work for workers in other pools, they cannot be spared by the Board resulting in shortage amidst plenty. The Welfare Board is able to supply only around 40 workers on an average against a demand of 120.The issue of low rate of clearance of imported fertilisers has created an adverse impact in the agricultural sector at a time when the prices of fertilisers are skyrocketing. Though, in a meeting convened by the Port Trust chairman in the first week of December, the representatives of various trade unions expressed their willingness to supply labourers from different pools but the work never moved at the desired pace. Speaking at the meeting, Port Trust chairman Paul Antony had said that the management was thinking of a introducing  mechanised system for bagging the cargo.