With the curfew in the state being extended till May 3, scores of migrant labourers in and around Ludhiana on Wednesday protested against non-payment of wages and alleged discrepancies in the supply of ration.
At Macchiwara, 48km from here, over 40 migrants, hailing from Sitamarhi in Bihar, got together and held a protest against the owner of the aluminium plant – Garg Industries – for paying them wages for only till March 21, and demanded full month’s salary.
After police intervention, the matter was resolved in the evening and the owner agreed to pay them the demanded salary.
A labourer, Ravinder Yadav, said, “We are stuck here as neither can we go to our home town nor do we have any money left to fend for ourselves.”
Samrala deputy superintendent of police (DSP) HS Mann confirmed the issue was resolved after the owner of the plant agreed to pay the full payment.
Similarly, in Sherpur Kalan in the Focal Point area, around 200 migrant labourers, who work in different units, came out on the road and held a protest alleging they were not being provided ration by the administration.
A labourer, Vinod Tiwari, leading the protest, alleged that ration in the area was not being distributed properly. He accused the area councillor of bias in the distribution of ration.
{{/usCountry}}A labourer, Vinod Tiwari, leading the protest, alleged that ration in the area was not being distributed properly. He accused the area councillor of bias in the distribution of ration.
{{/usCountry}}He said, “Upset over biased distribution of ration, a number of labourers, hailing from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, staged a protest against the administration and the police department. We want proper distribution of ration and, if the administration can’t do so, then please, send us back to our native places.”
Another protester, Pitambar Thakur, said, “Some people are getting ration twice a week and some have not got a single bag of ration in the past two weeks.”
The protest began in the afternoon but, after 15 minutes, the police pacified and persuaded them to lift the protest. However, the protesters again gathered on the road in the evening and started raising slogans against the administration.
Additional deputy commissioner of police Ajinder Singh said, “I talked to protesters and assured them that there will be proper distribution of ration. I asked them to volunteer a person from their group, who will be deployed during ration distribution to make sure that ration is properly distributed.”
Later, the labourers lifted the protest at 6.30pm, he said.
Inspector Varunjit Singh, SHO, Moti Nagar police station, said they served langar to the migrants in the area in the evening, and assured the protesters of proper distribution of ration in future.