A day after the board of directors of Tayo Rolls, a Tata Steel subsidiary, announced the decision to close the company in Gamharia, Seraikela-Kharsawan, a pall of gloom has fallen on the adjoining Tayo Colony, housing 400-odd families of employees, on Tuesday, 20km from Jamshedpur.

The company's revised voluntary separation scheme (VSS), in a window period between September 6 and 20 this year, also announced on Monday, has not found favour with employees.

Tayo Rolls MD K. Shankar Marar had on Monday said instead of the June compensation package of 18 months, they were now offering 32 months. Also, workers leaving quarters within a month will be paid Rs 75,000, while those doing so in two, three and four months, will get Rs 50,000, Rs 25,000 and Rs 10,000, respectively. Those not availing quarters will get Rs 45,000 extra.

But, members of Tayo Sangarsh Samiti, who had agitated earlier for a better VSS, said they got a raw deal even now.

"In the VSS package of other Tata Group companies, compensation benefits are calculated for the remaining period of service each employee is left with from the day of availing VSS. For us, why is the sum only for 32 months? In other Tata Group companies, the VSS package includes a rent of Rs 3,000 per month till the remaining period of service if one vacates quarters, which again is not the case with us," said a Tayo Sangarsh Samiti member.

Samiti members were also upset with state chief minister Raghubar Das who they said failed to keep his word on a better compensation package for Tayo employees.

"We met the chief minister at his Agrico (Jamshedpur) residence on July 30 evening when he assured us each employee would get a minimum of Rs 12-15 lakh as compensation. But, in the package announced, the minimum is Rs 5 lakh and the maximum between Rs 13 lakh and 15 lakh," one of the Samiti members said.

No one came on record fearing management reprisal.

Tayo Workers' Union president Rakeshwar Pandey expressed the closure notice as unfortunate, but added that as the company had been making loss for years, the management had no option. "The VSS was decided taking into consideration the company's financial position. The company is trying to absorb skilled workforce in other Tata Group units," said Pandey.

Samiti members, however, said they would continue their fight for a better deal. "We will try to meet the chief minister again this month. If everything fails we will move high court for a better package," said a member.

Wives of Tayo employees said the closure announcement on Ganesh Puja day cast a damper on the festive season.

"With barely a month left for Durga Puja, we collect subscriptions for our four-decade-old Tayo Colony Sarbojanin Durga Puja around this time. This year, nobody is in a mood to think about Puja, forget chanda," said a 30-year-old homemaker whose husband is a Tayo Rolls employee.

Is the VSS package offered by Tayo Rolls unfair? Tell ttkhand@abpmail.com