KAKINADA (AP): An uneasy calm prevailed in Yanam, an enclave of Puducherry near East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh, two days after violence by workers of a private factory that led to the lynching of a top official of the unit after a union leader allegedly died in police action.
A magisterial probe has begun into the violence by workers of Regency Ceramics, a tile manufacturing unit. The management has, however, demanded a CBI probe.
"The situation is calm. It is under control. There is no untoward incident and law and order problem," a senior Puducherry official in Yanam, which has a population of 42,000, told PTI.
Yanam MLA and former Puducherry minister, Malladi Krishna Rao said efforts were on to reopen the educational institutions which suffered damage.
He said that a ‘peace rally’ is being planned by the students on Tuesday if the authorities grant permission.
Though the situation is calm, additional forces are being deployed in Yanam to ensure that no untoward incident takes place.
He said the local residents were returning various kinds of goods which were taken away by them from the factory when the violence and unrest broke out on Friday last.
"The intention of many residents was not to loot things.
They are returning them now after keeping in safe custody," he said.
There was also extensive damage to the properties of the Ceramics factory, the company management said.
The frenzied workers of the Regency Ceramics went on the rampage after their leader M S Murali Mohan was allegedly killed in police action outside the factory and attacked the residence of President (Operations) K C Chandrasekhar, resulting in fatal head injuries.
The police opened fire on the mob resulting in injuries to several workers. They were receiving medical treatment and recovering.
The last rites of Murali Mohan, the workers’ leader whose death triggered the violence, were performed at his native village in East Godavari district.
Meanwhile, TDP Chief N Chandrababu Naidu paid tributes to the company official who was killed by unidentified persons during the labour unrest, in Hyderabad. He sought a thorough probe into the incident.
Trouble had been brewing since January 2, with more than 800 contract workers staging daily protests demanding that the services of senior workers be regularised and wages revised.
Leading the protest, Mohan went to the factory and tried to obstruct workers from going for the morning shift on Friday when he was allegedly hit by police with batons, causing chest injuries. He collapsed and was rushed to hospital, where he died, police said.
Police opened fire after using canes to disperse the violent workers who torched the vehicles of educational institutions run by the factory, electronic goods and other properties following the death of Mohan, a dismissed worker.
Nine persons had suffered bullet injuries in the firing, police said.
Official sources in Yanam that Deputy Tahsildar Markendayan had started the probe.
G N Naidu, chairman and managing director, Regency Ceramics demanded a CBI inquiry into the violence. Naidu said his company has suffered huge losses.
Rao said the management had obtained a court order restraining any gathering of people within 200 metres from the factory. The workers who attempted to prevent others from attending duty on Friday violated the police cordon and created violence, he said.