Farmers Movement Archive

Farm stir: Adani Group shuts down dry port at Ludhiana’s Kila Raipur

The Adani Logistics Services, a subsidiary of the Adani Group, has decided to shut its inland container depot, or dry port, at Kila Raipur in Ludhiana district as its operations have been suspended since January due to the farmers’ dharna at the entrance of the facility. District industry centre general manager Rakesh Kansal said he had spoken to depot operations head Ravinder Singh who confirmed having served termination notices on 450 dry port employees. “He also confirmed that the company has terminated business operations at the road- and rail-linked depot,” Kansal added. Ludhiana deputy commissioner Varinder Sharma said he had no information about the Adani Group shutting down the depot . Also, company spokesperson Mitul Thakkar refused to comment on the development.Since January 1, the farmers protesting against the Centre’s three contentious agriculture laws have blocked the main gate of the dry port by placing tractor-trailers, thus completely halting the operations there. An official said the company was incurring a daily loss of ₹50 crore due to the closure of the depot. “The government incurred a loss to the exchequer in the form of Goods and Services tax (GST), customs duties and other taxes to the tune of ₹700 crore and an overall economic impact around ₹7,000 crore.Take control of depot, reinstate staff: SKM to govt The Samyukt Kisan Morcha, which is spearheading the farm agitation against the 3 laws, said the government should take control of the depot and reinstate the employees whose services have been terminated. SKM member Harnek Singh Gujjarwal said the company had removed its hoardings and other belongings log ago. “They have issued pink slips to all the employees working in the depot,” he added.The Adani Group had set up the depot in 2017 over 80 acres of land to facilitate the industries in Ludhiana by providing them cargo services through rail and road. Repeated attempts of the district administration to persuade the SKM activists to lift their dharna from the entrance of the dry port have failed. The protesting farmers argued that the agitation was aimed at getting the farm laws repealed and it was not a local issue that could be resolved through talks with the local administration.

Hindustan Times

02-08-2021

Chandigarh