Agitating Texprint workers caned

Even before the dust raised by the firing incident at Indo Rama Synthetics could settle, police had to resort to mild cane charge on the agitating workers of Texprint Overseas (a closed unit) at Butibori on Friday (September 30) afternoon.

Some workers and six police personnel as well as the sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) Sanjay Barkund were injured in the incident. Demanding that the operations at the unit be restarted, workers led by Gautam Bansod had decided to stage a rasta roko at the MIDC Square, Butibori.

After the firing incident at Indo Rama unit earlier, the district collector had prohibited morchas and other agitational programmes in the area under section 37 of the Bombay Police Act in the area.

A total of 233 affected workers of the company had decided to resort to "chakka-jam" around 1 pm at the MIDC Square. Some workers organised a meeting at Kishorebhau Wankhede Hall, Butibori.

To prevent any untoward incident, a small police force arrived at the premises of the hall and arrested a few workers for violating the prohibitory orders.

When police vans reached the MIDC Square, three of the detained workers, who were in one of the vans, tried to open the door of the vehicle from inside. They broke the windscreen of the van. Seeing their colleagues in police vans, the other workers present at the Square attempted to block the vehicular traffic.

Soon, the workers resorted to stone pelting and smashed the windscreen of the vans. They also started attacking the police personnel. The cops tried to pacify the irate crowd but in vain. The situation worsened, as the irate workers started hurling stones on cops. Left with no alternative, the police had to resort to mild cane charge.

Some workers and SDPO Sanjay Barund received minor injuries. Of the 77 workers arrested by Bori police, 64 were released on bail.

Offences under sections 143, 147, 148, 323, 332 and 341 of the IPC, section 135 of the Bombay Police Act, section 3 of the Damage to Public Property Act and section 7 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act were registered against the workers.

Non-bailable offences were registered against 13 workers. Earlier, the workers had taken out a morcha on August 12 to press for their various demands, which included restarting the unit and releasing their salary pending for the past four months.

The company management had assured immediate fulfillment of their demands. However, neither the workers got their salaries nor the unit was restarted. As a result, they decided to re-launch the agitation from Friday.

The 100 per cent export oriented unit (EOU) of Texprint Overseas had stopped production in January 2005 owing to tough international market conditions.

The unit was set up at Butibori in 1996. It employed a workforce of 233 and produced synthetic grey fabric. The fabric was exported to Italy, Singapore, and United Kingdom.

When contacted, the superintendent of police (SP) Yashasvi Yadav said that the situation was now fully under control and maintained that nobody was seriously injured in the incident.