For the construction of the national highway, the pride of labor co-operatives in the country, ULCCS has paved the way for the dismantling of its office standing for more than 52 years, says Kishor, an official of the co-op titan.
The headquarters is being demolished carefully, keeping in mind the high emotional quotient attached to the building. No big machines are used for the demolition. Bricks, doors, windows and other structures are being extricated with great care so that these could be reused. Talking to Indian Cooperative ULCCS official Kishor said “for the sake of nation rebuilding, ULCCS is not the one to balk.”
It requires a special mention that ULCCS’s headquarters at Madappally in Kozhikode district falls on NH-66, which is being widened. This is not possible without demolishing the building, a structure that has huge emotional value for both the new and old staff members.
Tucked away in the southern part of the country in Kerala, ULCCS has been grabbing the headlines every now and then. Kishor reminded us of a recent event when ULCCS completed the job of translocating an entire Oxygen Plant, assigned to it by the District Magistrate of Kozhikode. The 13KL tank from the PK Steel Complex was translocated to the Kozhikode Medical College compound within the stipulated time when the Covid was at its peak.
ULCCS’s herculean efforts won the laurels of both the state govt as well as center. Whether you are on a highway or in a hi-tech park, your eyes cannot miss the ubiquitous presence of this construction cooperative.
Considering the performances of the Society the State Government is treating the society as an “Accredited Agency” to undertake works directly without tender procedure. The works under Special Development Fund for MLAs are also undertaken directly without tender procedure. The Tourism Department has also approved it as the executive agency.
Most of the Local Self Govts (Panchayat Raj Institutions) have identified ULCCS as the reliable partner for entrusting the development of roads and other facilities at the village level.
Uralungal Labour Contract Co-operative Society (ULCCS Ltd), started in 1925 by an aeminent social reformer Guru Vagbadananda in a remote hamlet Uralungal, near Vatakara in Kozhikode district in Kerala, as a novel mass movement against the anarchies of the caste system prevalent in those days, has grown today as a name synonymous with quality, workmanship, precision and efficiency in Civil works especially in roads & bridges in North Kerala.
This cooperative of skilled workers, who lost their jobs due to their social fight against superstitions and partisan practices in the 1920’s and in the 30’s, formed for solving their unemployment played a crucial role in developing infrastructure in the Independent India.
By religiously following its culture of social harmony and selfless service that bonded the initial members of the union, ULCCS had grown as the biggest Labour Contract Society by providing direct employment to over 2000 workers from rural areas.
It bears recalling that in the list of World Cooperative Monitor report 2020 published by ICA, ULCCS ranked at the second position in the list of sector rankings. In the Industry and Utilities category, ULCCS has been named in the second position, just below Spain-based Corporation Mondragon. This ranking is based on the ratio of turnover over the gross domestic product (GDP) per capita.
