Strict action against those demanding ‘nokkukooli’: Kerala Minister

Strict action would be taken against those demanding ‘nokkukooli’ or gawking wages in the state, Kerala Minister for Education and Labour V Sivankutty said on Monday.

The minister, at a press conference held at Kasaragod, said it will be widely publicizing its stand against the demand of ‘nokkukooli’ to create awareness amongst people not to engage in such activities.

Sivankutty also said that a system will be set in place for lodging complaints against the demand of gawking wages.

The announcement comes a week after the Kerala High Court declared that demanding ‘nokkukooli’ was an ”illegal and unauthorized” activity that needs to be banned and directed the police to lodge cases of extortion against whoever makes such demands.

The high court directed the state government to carry out the necessary amendments to the Kerala Headload Workers Act in a time-bound manner so that this industry is organized and regulated to some extent.

The state and the Headload Worker Welfare Board were also requested to devise a method to modernize the sector, impart training to the workers and equip them with the means to carry out their loading and unloading activity without any harm being caused to their bodies.

The court said that compliance with these directions would ”go a long way” in avoiding ”deleterious tendencies” like ‘nokkukooli’ and will project the state as ”investor-friendly”.