High-level meet on operations of IRE

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:  The high-level meeting convened by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Tuesday to discuss the issues related to the Indian Rare Earths (IRE) decided to retain the ownership of the land in Kollam with those who had given it for mining.  Contract employees, who are working for the past several years, will be made permanent employees. Labour Minister Shibu Baby John was entrusted to hold discussions to find a solution to the labour dispute. The IRE management assured that there would not be any move to close down the company. The meeting decided to expand the operations of the company by signing deals with public sector enterprises.  The State Govt will issue notification to ensure that the ownership of the land remained with the original owners. There were allegations that the company had changed the ownership of the land in their favour at Panmana and Alappad.Industries Minister P K Kunhalikutty said the land owners could decide whether their land should be given on lease.  There were complaints that the IRE was engaged in only mining and, following discussions, the management decided to invest in Kerala and expand the company’s operations.  The management will look into the possibilities of providing synthetic rutile directly to Kerala Minerals and Metals Limited rather than bringing it from Cochin Minerals and Rutile Limited.  The meeting was attended by Industries Minister P K Kunhalikutty, Labour Minister Shibu Baby John, Union Minister of State for power K C Venugopal, MPs Kodikunnil Suresh, N Peethambara Kurup, MLAs C Divakaran, P C Vishnunath, A A Azeez and former Irrigation Minister N K Premachandran.