JOIN USEmbattled workers of Falcon Tyres, in the city, on Wednesday, staged a road block with a one-point agenda, demanding the State government to acquire the factory. Following the snap stir, traffic on the busy outer-ring road junction on KRS road came to a grinding halt for five hours.
Falcon Tyres Employees Union president Devaraj told Deccan Herald, the State government should acquire the factory on the lines of West Bengal government that recently took over the defunct Dunlop and Jessop factories belonging to the same Pawan Kumar Ruia group. Ruia took over Falcon in Mysuru several years ago”.
High drama
Meanwhile, high drama was witnessed during the protest when two agitators tried to set themselves afire by pouring kerosene. The police personnel, deployed at the spot, swung into action, thwarted the workers from taking any extreme step.
What incensed the factory workers further was a suicide bid by a fellow worker, identified as S Sunil Kumar on Tuesday night.
Kumar, who consumed poison on the factory premises, was rushed to K R Hospital, before being shifted to a private hospital at Gokulam. However, his condition is stable. It is a third such incident, after another worker survived the bid, while yet another succumbed to similar attempt in the recent past, said Devaraj.
The factory on KRS road, in Metagalli Industrial Area, reopened in the fag end of the year 2015, after it was closed for several months. The district administration that intervened in the wake of months-long protest staged by factory workers in turns, near the deputy commissioner’s office, had rekindled hope among the beleaguered workers.
However, all went into a toss recently, when the management employees that included vice-presidents for operation and marketing stopped reporting to work. On the other hand, of the total 45,000 tyres produced, 20,000 have been supplied, with another 25,000 tyres remain in the factory.
Though salary was given in the recent months, arrears remain to be paid for several months ever since the trouble broke out in the factory in fag end of 2014.
Following the crisis, close to 2,000 workers, both permanent and contract labourers, remain affected.