<p></p><p>N.K. Premachandran, MP, has called upon the State government to take immediate steps to reopen the cashew factories under the management of the public sector Kerala State Cashew Development Corporation (KSCDC). In a statement here on Monday, Mr. Premachandran said that the KSCDC has all along been projected as a model employer in the cashew sector and the factories of such an establishment remaining closed indefinitely cannot in any way be justified. <br></p> <p>He said that as per a government decision the minimum wages of cashew workers were recently hiked. KSDC factories should have been in the lead to implement the wage hike. It is true that there is an administrative crisis in the KSCDC. But keeping the factories closed till the crisis is solved does not augur well for a model employer, Mr. Premachandran added. <br></p> <p>Thousands of cashew workers, a good majority of them women have been badly hit by the situation.<br></p><p></p>