Charges fly as ABG sacks remaining workers

Even as ABG Haldia Bulk Terminals (HBT) pulled out from Haldia this week, one of its partners, ABG Infralogistics has participated in a bid that closed on Friday.

While HBT officials claim the firm has nothing to do with ABG Infralogistics operations, KoPT alleges the participation shows the pullout was due to economic reasons. HBT is a joint venture between ABG Infralogistics and French firm Louis Dreyfus Armateurs (LDA).

According to KoPT officials, ABG Infralogistics holds 26 per cent in HBT. Babu Rajeev, CEO, ABG Infralogistics, confirmed the firm was participating in the bidding for berth number five for container handling at Netaji Subhash Dock, under the Kolkata Dock System.

“The dry bulk cargo handling at Haldia was going down considerably, reaching up to 17 per cent in Septemeber. On the other hand, the container handling at Kolkata was increasing 10 per cent. This is the reason why they are interested at Kolkata not in Haldia,” said Manish Jain, chairman, KoPT.

HBT on Saturday retrenched 348 of its remaining employees, officially. “Each employee’s bank account has been credited with the compensation they are entitled to,” Malhi said.

In all, 650 people are out of job.

HBT had sacked 275 workers in September while the remaining workers were rendered jobless once HBT announced its decision to pull out on October 31.