By IANS
Jajpur (Orissa) : Production at the Jindal Stainless Limited steel plant in the Kalinga Nagar industrial complex, the steel hub of Orissa, was hampered Thursday following an agitation by a group of labourers, police said.
One platoon of armed police force was deployed to avoid any untoward incident, Jajpur district police chief D.S. Kuttey told IANS.
"Nearly a hundred labourers of the raw material handling systems (RMHS) restored to cease-work and sat on a dharna inside the steel plant complex demanding a salary hike and a permanent job," he said.
"We have been performing all hazardous works but unfortunately we are not permanent workers of the company. As we are outsourced, the company is providing us only Rs.3000 to Rs.4000," claimed Ganesh Das, a worker.
"We all do the work of permanent workers. But why we should be outsourced and termed as contact labourers?" he asked.
"We demand the company to enrol us as permanent workers and increase our salary at least by Rs.1000 per month," demanded B.N. Mohanty, another worker leading the agitation.
The company authorities said discussions were on with the agitating labourers to resolve their problems.
"We are looking into their demands and hope some possible solutions will come out within a day or two," told S.K. Mohapatra, assistant general manager of Jindal Stainless Limited though he did not admit that the production was halted in the steel plant.
Last month, a group of contractual labourers had staged an agitation demanding a permanent job in the same steel plant.