National

After work, employees held up at Singur site

KOLKATA: Activists of the Paschimbanga Khet Mazdoor Samiti, an ally of the Trinamool Congress in the on-going agitation at Singur, on Thursday gathered at one of the gates to the Tata Motors project site and refused to allow vehicles carrying employees to move out, sources in the plant said.

The Trinamool is demanding return of 400 acres of land “forcibly” acquired from farmers.

The agitators squatted on the expressway and vehicles taking employees out after the day’s work were forced to return. Earlier in the day, a section of the agitators tried to storm the site through gate 4, but were stopped by security personnel.

The agitation, which entered the fifth day, has affected work in the project area. Attendance among contract workers, which varied from 15 to 20 per cent over the past few days, fell further due to intimidation by the agitators, a Tata Motors source said here. Normally close to 4,000 workers were engaged in each shift at the mother plant and the vendor park.

Complaints of assault on workers of an ancillary unit by Trinamool supporters were lodged at the local thana on Tuesday.

© Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu