Dear Editor,
I was profoundly saddened when I heard that Komal Chand had passed away. I knew that he had been ailing for a while, and was recently receiving medical treatment in Cuba, where he demised to the great beyond.
I have known Komal since 1996, when thereafter as GuySuCo’s Chief Industrial Relations Manager/Industrial Relations and Human Resource Director, we were engaged in numerous negotiations and meetings at various levels on matters related to pay increase, strikes, and the general welfare of sugar workers. He was a very shrewd and stubborn negotiator, who would go to the extreme in the process to get even the last penny and benefit for the sugar workers.
He was always a soft-spoken, composed person with well-articulated presentations, and despite the robustness, fierceness, and sometimes unfriendly exchanges, he had never left those meetings with animosity. We always parted with some degree of amicability.
Komal was a keen listener with a very analytical mind; one who would diligently peruse data, be it on production, finance or operations, and probe with great intent to get plausible answers to his doubts and queries; and only when he was genuinely satisfied would he move on.
He was an avid reader on subjects ranging from health to biographies to trade unionism, and economic global affairs.
After I left GuySuCo in 2015, we became great friends. It was a period when I experienced a different side of Komal; a period of brotherhood, kindness and wisdom. He shared with me his thoughts and extensive learnings on health, medicine, politics and trade unionism. We had many exchanges on the phone, social get-togethers at his famous watering hole at NAACIE, and visits to his office.
Komal, on many occasions, described to me one-on-one, with sincerity, how much he was saddened, depressed and disappointed with the closure of some sugar estates. He honestly and genuinely had the sugar workers’ welfare to his heart. I can only describe him as a true and patriotic trade union leader. Sugar workers, the trade union confederation, and this nation would certainly miss him, and I would miss a dear friend.
I offer my sincere condolences to his bereaved family, and pray that Comrade Komal’s kind and honourable soul may have eternal peace.
Yours faithfully,
Jai Petam
