KIZHAKKAMBALAM: Even as Kitex Group managing director Sabu M Jacob has alleged foul play in the arrest of 151 migrant labourers in connection with the violence at his company’s labour camp at Kizhakkambalam, eyewitness accounts collected by TNIE team revealed that the police had failed to read the gravity of the situation and didn’t expect the agitating mob to target them.
The labourers who spoke to TNIE revealed that the situation became tense around 11pm on Saturday when a section of labourers at the camp protested against another group which was dancing and singing to celebrate Christmas beyond the permitted time for celebrations. “When a security man posted at the camp also objected to the noisy celebrations, the group confronted him. The situation turned violent after a group came to the support of the security man. Things went out of control when another two security personnel reached the spot to control the situation,” said a labourer.
Another labourer, who has been staying at the camp for the past seven years, said the agitated group went out of the camp only when a police jeep with three police personnel reached the spot around 12.30am. “They surrounded the police vehicle and started confronting the personnel who were forced to leave the spot. Later, when another police jeep with two officers came to the spot, the same group again started abusing cops and gheraoed them by crowding around the vehicle and slamming the doors and window panes,” said another migrant worker.
He said though a police bus reached the spot accompanied by another police jeep around 1am, there weren’t enough police personnel in it to tackle the situation. “By that time, the agitating group got into a frenzy and started to destroy the police vehicles,” said a Malayali labourer who has been staying at the camp for the last seven years.
All labourers, who spoke to TNIE, said it was around 3am that a large posse of police personnel reached the spot and barged into the camp to round up the labourers. A senior official said the police followed the routine procedure while attending to the situation. “It’s the control room vehicle which reached the spot first to assess the situation. We used to get regular calls on fights between migrant labourers.
The situation is normally managed by the police team which reaches the spot first. We never expected that the group of migrant labourers would target the police team,” said the officer. Meanwhile, cops aren’t convinced about Sabu’s claim that 499 Malayali labourers also stay at the camp sharing rooms with migrant workers.
Labour dept will inquire into violence: Min
Kanhangad: There will be a two-pronged investigation into the violence unleashed by the workers of Kitex Garments at Kizhakkambalam, near Kochi, said Labour Minister V Sivankutty on Monday. The police would investigate the law and order issue and the Labour Commissioner would inquire into the workers’ issue at the factory, said the minister. Kitex owner and managing director Sabu M Jacob said a section of workers opposed another group of workers who were taking part in Christmas carols and the two sides clashed.
When the police went there to disperse the violent workers, they were attacked and the police jeep was set on fire. The Ernakulam Rural Police arrested 156 workers and pressed 11 counts of charges on them, including attempt to murder. The charges were pressed based on the statements given by the injured police officers. Sivankutty took exception to Jacob saying on TV that a lot of muck was being thrown at the company and him over the violence because he floated a political party that contested and won against the LDF and the UDF. The minister said Jacob had always taken a stance against the LDF government.