Employers waiting for their NE employees

Temporary arrangements made, but many jobs lying vacant from almost a month

Many shops and establishments, which had hired people belonging to Northeastern (NE) states, are still waiting for their employees to return from their native places.

They had fled the city last month following rumours of threat to their lives.

A special train which arrived at the Bangalore City Railway Station from Guwahati last week brought more than 400 people from Northeastern states. Many of them work in hospitality, beauty and lifestyle sectors.

Most of these shops and establishments are located in Shivajinagar, Peenya, Commercial Street, Marathalli and Sarjapur.  Some of them are students too.

“We spoke to a large group of our employees who stay in Manipur and Assam two days ago. We are hoping to meet them soon as they will be arriving in the city and resuming jobs early next week,” said Allam, manager of a restaurant.

Farhad, a senior staff member of another hotel, explained that they have reassured them of increased security too.

“Nothing will affect their jobs. We have hired a few people to manage work temporarily, but it is rest assured that we will be taking all our employees back when they return because they have worked with us for almost four years now,” he added.

At Marathalli, which has  three big beauty salons, the arrival of their entire staff is being awaited with a grand welcome party.

“It is a small gesture of love for our NE brothers and sisters from our side. We want to give them the message that they are not just our employees, but have also become good friends with us and we are hoping they or any other community doesn’t face a similar situation,” said Gowri Sheshadri, owner of one of the salons.

“The private security firms were the biggest employers of people from the Northeast, followed by the industrial work force in Peenya where workers were involved in processing products. These were followed by the hospitality and the beauty and lifestyle industries. The IT industry has over 3,000 employees from the Northeastern states and barely a few of these returned to their hometowns following the threat. Those who returned have received an overwhelming response,” said Yugantar Saikia, member, Assam-Bangalore Coordination Committee.

Senior advisor, Assam Society, D J Bhuyan said, “The jobs of Northeasterners are vacant. Employers are telling us to get in touch with their employees and assure them that can return now.”

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