Labour unrest in another Gurgaon firm

In yet another instance of deteriorating industrial relations in Haryana, workers in a medical equipment manufacturing company in Gurgaon alleged the firm’s management had left the plant open with no electricity and water supply for over two months.

“Eastern Medikit Ltd has left the offices of all its departments open, but no work is being done, and the workers are sitting idle,” said Sanjay Malik, president of the labour union at the plant. “Power supply was cut on May 10. We continued to work as usual till May 18, using diesel gensets. Then, the management put a notice saying the plant has shut,” Malik alleged.

The company has been in operation in Gurgaon since 1988. The state labour department said the company had alleged workers had been on an “illegal” strike. The workers, however, claimed they had been reporting for work every day.

Raising an alarm that this situation “may precipitate into a big industrial unrest” in the already charged industrial atmosphere in the Gurgaon industrial belt, the Hind Mazdoor Sabha has written a letter to Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on this issue.

“There have been instances of such neglect, ignorance, reluctance and rigidity in the past, too, and, in some cases, have resulted in serious labour problem,” HMS secretary A D Nagpal said in the letter.

Eastern Medikit has around 2,000 workers, and they have not been paid salaries for May and June, the letter said.

Officials in the Haryana labour department said this might be is a case of illegal lockout. The owner, in his representation to the department, claimed the workers have been on an illegal strike. Calls to the owner of the company and his personal assistant went unanswered.