Ludhiana: Mill workers turn violent over wages

LUDHIANA: Hundreds of

workers

employed at Vardhman Group’s Arihant Spinning Mills, Malerkotla, created a ruckus on the factory premises over the issue of wages and even pelted civil administration officials with stones when they tried to control the situation. The

mill

management on Tuesday issued a statement, saying the workers had been paid according to their attendance.


The incident happened on Monday evening and the mill management sought the help of local administration as the angry mass of workers turned hostile. Malerkotla SDM Vikaramjeet Singh Panthey reached the spot, along with a huge police force led by DSP Sumit Sood. Panthey tried to pacify the agitating workers, but they began stone pelting. Both Panthey and Sood sustained minor injuries in the incident.

Panthey returned to the mill to meet the workers on Tuesday morning, to urge them to end their strike but failed. “Around 8pm yesterday, we got intimation about workers protesting outside the mill in large numbers. In order to avert any untoward incident, we reached the spot along with huge police force. We spoke to representatives of the workers, who demanded that their wages be hiked and some mill managers transferred. But there was no headway as the management did not accept the demands. About two hours later, a group of agitating workers started stone-pelting in which me, DSP and some others sustained minor injuries,” he told TOI.