Industries in Peenya are shutting down; hundreds of laborers have not received their salaries.
Bibek Baidya
Bangalore, November 22, 2019 Over 90 employees of a Peenya-based garment industry have filed an FIR against the employer for not paying their salaries for four consecutive months.
The laborers filed an FIR at Peenya police station on November 20. Mr Venkatesh, the labor supervisor of the accused industry, said, “Even I haven’t received my salary from past four months. I did not complain for three months, because I was friends with the owner, but now it was difficult to sustain and continue working here. So we (him and the laborers) decided to leave the company and file a complaint in the local police station.”
The workers had assembled, initially on October 14, in Peenya Police Station to file an FIR against the owner, but the police station did not accept it. Inspector told them that he will first send a warning and if the owner doesn’t respond, he will take the case further.
Raguprasad Rana, Sub-Inspector, Peenya Police Station, said, “At first, we decided to warn the owner, so we refused to file an FIR immediately. After a week when we did not get any response from the owner, we filed the FIR. Now we will give the owner of the company a last chance to pay the salaries of the laborers in a given time frame, failing which, legal action shall be taken against him.”
The owner of the garment factory, Mahesh, said, “As of now, I am facing a financial crisis, because of bank loans and issues with the borrowers. Hence, I could not pay the laborers working at my factory. I will give the salaries as soon as possible.” Vijay Kumar Malkha, member of Peenya Industrial Association, said, “Many industries in Peenya were forced to shut down because of similar problem. They could not give salaries to their employees. Over 550 to 650 laborers were associated with these companies.”
