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Mumbai, Oct. 3

THE dark side of contemporary business climes caught up with the Tatas, as two temporary workers earlier on projects at Tata Power, attempted self-immolation before Bombay House here on Friday.

Messrs Anant Ganpat Dalvi and Akhtar Khan, both in their 40s, were admitted to the St George Hospital with severe burn injuries. Their suicide bid is believed to be a fall-out of the Tata Hydro Employees Union leadership declining to include their demand, as well as that of over 70 other similar temporary workers, for permanent jobs at the company.

Following the incident, the new charter between Tata Power and its permanent staff, up for signing on Friday, has been postponed.

In an official statement, Tata Power acknowledged the injured duo as part of its "ex-project roll employees". In line with contractual terms, their services ceased with project completion in 1996 and besides legal dues, Tata Power paid additional compensation on its own accord. The workers sought permanent jobs with Tata Power (approaching its union as well), the matter currently pending with the Labour Court.

According to Mr Joseph Njarlely, who said he was among complainants in cases pending before the Fourth Labour Court at Bandra, 73 temporary employees had moved the Court on May 25, 1996, seeking proper compensation or permanent employment at Tata Power. Until then, their tenure was renewed from project-to-project with payment every fortnight and renewal lacking reliable format. "It is like a BEST bus, some manage to get in, others don't," he told journalists at St George Hospital.

Notwithstanding Tatas' stance, Mr Njarlely did not view the 70-odd in his ilk as temporary employees. Alluding to the 15-20 years some of them worked from project-to-project, he claimed, they were "permanent temporary employees" and members of the Tata Hydro Employees Union. On June 30, 1996, a month after they moved Court, the 73 workers were "retrenched" and have since been more or less unemployed, he said.

Of late, they were in talks with Mr Kailash Shinde, General-Secretary of the Tata Hydro Employees Union, to get their demands included in the union's latest charter due for signing on Friday. But at a meeting in Kalyan on Thursday night, Mr Shinde reportedly told them their demands stood rejected by management and he was going to sign the charter anyway. Mr Shinde could not be reached for his comments.

When contacted Mr Praveen Kukde, Executive Director, Tata Power, said, the charter concerns permanent employees and even if the temporary workers claimed membership of the union, the distinction has to be respected. Details post-Kalyan are sketchy. At Dalvi's behest, 15-16 of the original complainants gathered on Friday in front of Bombay House, where around 11.30 a.m. Dalvi and Khan set themselves ablaze.

At the hospital, no worker confirmed use of kerosene, how the suicide process began or whether there was stone-throwing (at 1 p.m., staff at Bombay House were clearing broken glass panes from the main door). "I was at the back," Mr Njarlely said. His colleague, Mr Shivaji Hulwan who burned his hands trying to rescue Dalvi, too was at the rear, but confirmed prior knowledge of the suicide bid.

By 3.30 p.m. at St George Hospital, the sequence of events hardly mattered. Past weeping family members and well within the hospital's very government innards, one of the victims was a heap of bandaged silence, the other, crying and twisting in pain.

"Tata Power is very saddened by the incident this afternoon and has offered full medical cooperation and assistance to the injured," the company's statement said.

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