Operations resumed at a private manufacturing unit at Haldwani on Tuesday after a seven-hour protest by workers over their demands triggered a tense face-off between demonstrators and police.
Most workers returned to work after the management and workers reached an agreement on 12 of the 14 demands raised during the protest. However, a small group of workers said they would continue the agitation until their key demands, a minimum wage of Rs 20,000 and an eight-hour work shift, are fulfilled. Despite this, the majority of workers resumed duties at the Motherson Sumi Systems Ltd factory in the Motahaldu industrial area near Padalipur.
Workers threatened that protests could restart if the company fails to offer a permanent solution. “Assurances are not enough; we need a concrete decision,” some employees said.
Motherson HR Head Subhash Tiwari said the company is presently paying wages according to government norms. He said any salary revision would depend on fresh government orders and appealed to workers to maintain calm so production is not affected.
Meanwhile, police detained Congress leader and former Uttarakhand minister Harish Paneru as preventive measure on Tuesday morning when he arrived at the protest site to support the workers.
A heated exchange took place between Paneru and police personnel before he was taken into preventive custody and shifted to Kathgodam police station.
Paneru alleged that raising issues in a democracy was being treated as a crime and accused the police and administration of acting under pressure from the ruling party.
Authorities also placed RTI activist Piyush Joshi under preventive detention during the protest.
Superintendent of Police (City) Manoj Katyal and Tehsildar Rekha Kohli, who had been monitoring the matter since Monday, said maintaining law and order remained the administration’s top priority. Officials added that strict action would be taken if tensions rise again.
Tension had gripped the Motahaldu area of Nainital district on Monday when hundreds of workers at the Motherson Sumi Systems Ltd factory went on strike, alleging long working hours and inadequate wages.
Demonstrators accused the management of exploiting workers and denying basic facilities, staging a sit-in demonstration outside the factory gates. Arguments soon broke out between police personnel and youth leaders supporting the workers, which escalated into a scuffle. Police used mild force to disperse the crowd and restore normalcy after the situation turned tense.
The protest comes days after similar demonstrations by factory workers in Noida turned violent on April 13, when vehicles were set on fire and public property damaged during wage-related protests. The incident led to massive traffic disruption at the Delhi-Noida border.
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