HYDERABAD: More than 4,000 workers from the key defence manufacturing units in Telangana, are on strike since Tuesday morning. This is a part of a nation-wide month-long strike of over 82,000 ordnance factory workers from 41 factories in the country against the Centre’s proposed move to corporatise the ordnance factory board (OFB).
Refuting the allegations of workers, OFB chairman Saurabh Kumar, in a press statement on Wednesday, reasoned that move is aimed at providing greater flexibility in the day-to-day functioning and increasing autonomy in decision-making.
On the second day of the strike on Wednesday, scores of protesters and members of the three protesting worker federations — Bharatiya Pratiraksha Mazdoor Sangh, the Indian National Defence Workers Federation, and the All India Defence Employees Federation — gathered outside the ordnance factory at Medak in Sangareddy district. Threating to intensify the strike, Singh said, “We will make this a Jan Andolan and will take support of students and other worker unions. The strike is likely to continue till September 19.