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Unemployed engineers vandalise JSW office in Odisha demanding jobs
The students broke furniture, computers and other articles inside the office.
More than 200 engineering graduates on Tuesday vandalised the office of a company owned by the JSW Group in Odisha’s port town of Paradip alleging it did not keep its assurance of giving them jobs, police said.
Members of the students’ organisation of Biju Patnaik University allegedly barged into the office of JSW Infrastructure Ltd, the port operating unit of Sajjan Jindal-led JSW Group, in the morning demanding that the company fulfil its assurances made to them earlier this year.
The students broke furniture, computers and other articles inside the office.
Later, they went to the police station to file a complaint against the company. However, 8-10 of the students were detained at the police station. Tension ran high as police resorted to mild lathicharge to disperse other students.
The students alleged the company’s officials had promised them on October 15 that they will be given preference during its recruitment when they staged a sit-in protest in front of JSW’s main gate demanding jobs in the company.
They also alleged that a recruitment agency hired by JSW was hiring only non-Odias neglecting the interests of the local students.
JSW Infrastructure Ltd had opened its 18 million tonne capacity iron ore terminal at Paradip Port to handle third party cargo in November. The company is also building a 30 million tonne per annum coal terminal that will be operational by 2020.
Mitu Swain, the general secretary of the students’ organisation denied that any of its members had resorted to vandalism.
“We went for a peaceful protest and weren’t involved in any kind of vandalism. It’s the JSW staff who damaged their own property and put the blame on us instead,” Swain said.
Paradip Model police station’s inspector-in-charge PK Samal said they are investigating the matter.
A JSW spokesperson said the company will soon lodge a complaint against those involved in the incident. The spokesperson, however, refused to comment on the issue of job assurance to the unemployed engineers.
The Periodic Labour Force Survey 2017-18, released in April this year, shows the unemployment rate in Odisha was 7.1%, higher than the national average of 6.1%. The Economic Survey 2018-19 said the unemployment rate in Odisha was more pronounced in urban areas (8.4%) than rural areas (6.9%).
