Gurgaon garment unit workers turn violent

Several persons sustained injuries and around a dozen vehicles were burnt when hundreds of workers of a garment factory turned violent and rampaged through the Udyog Vihar industrial area in Gurgaon Sector 37 on Saturday morning.

The incident was triggered by a rumour that one worker, who was recently injured while on duty, after accidentally coming into contact with a live electric wire, had died in the hospital. By the time the agitation could take a proper shape, another rumour – about four factory workers burnt to death after being stuck inside the factory’s elevator during a fire incident – dropped among the potential mob like a bomb.

Soon, around 200 police officials and rapid action force had to be deployed at the spot – right outside the concerned factory of the garment unit named Orient Craft – to control the situation. There was also a minor confrontation reported between some cops and a few workers. However, most of the injuries reported in the incident had taken place during the vandalism spree in which groups of workers targeted cars and motorbikes parked near the factory and started ‘breaking them’ one after another. Most of the injured were reported to be part of the mob, said a police official.

He further said that once the agitation took full swing, as many as six cars and four motorbikes were set afire by unidentified men in the mob. Some ‘miscreants’ in the mob also broke glasses outside the building and tried to set on fire the various inflammable materials stored in the factory premises.

Information regarding both – the death of the worker who had sustained burn injuries from a live electric wire and the death of four trapped inside an elevator during a fire – turned out to be baseless and they were found to be spread deliberately by some miscreant, who is now being hunted by the police.

A case was later registered against around 250 persons for rioting with armed weapons, attempt to murder, causing hurt and using criminal force against public servant, causing damages by mischief and criminal intimidation. “While eight persons are named in the FIR, the rest are unknown. No arrests have been made yet. However, investigation is underway,” said Navdeep Singh Virk, Gurgaon Police Commissioner.

The Commissioner later went to the spot to take account of the situation and ensured that there will be police presence in the area at least for a week to tackle any untoward incident, keeping in view the history of factory workers’ unrest in Gurgaon.

By the time Virk had reached the spot, the crowd had dispersed and the police claimed to have contained the situation in minimum possible damage.

The first information about the incident was received by officials at the Kherki Daula police station around 10 am. They rushed to the spot and asked for immediate back up when they confronted the crowd, said a police official.

In February this year, more than 200 workers of two sister concerns of a garment export company turned violent and vandalised as many as six factories in Udyog Vihar industrial area. Around hundred vehicles, including around 60 cars, parked outside the factory premises were damaged during the violence. More than a dozen of them were set afire.