Gurgaon, October 20
A strike called by various unions of industrial workers brought a number of units located in the Gurgaon-Manesar-Dharuhera belt to a standstill today, causing direct and indirect losses estimated to be nearly Rs 100 crore.

Thousands of workers staged a demonstration in front of RICO Auto Industries near Hero Honda Chowk here to register their protest against the death of Ajit Yadav, a RICO worker, who was killed in a violent clash on Sunday evening.

Nearly 70-80 automobile, auto component and other industrial units of the belt, including Honda, Hero Honda, Bajaj Motors, Lumax, Microtek, Carrier Aircon, Sona Koya, Sunbeam and RICO and their ancillary units are believed to have been affected by the strike. “Such a thing happening in a city like Gurgaon — which contributes 49 per cent to the state exchequer — is a major cause of concern,” said KC Papreja, general secretary of the Gurgaon Industries Association (GIA).

Much to the relief of the district administrative and police authorities, the strike-cum-protest demonstration was largely peaceful, barring the incident of beating up of a senior RICO official by the agitators. The district administration had also invoked Section 144 and a large number of police personnel were deployed to prevent any untoward incident in view of the volatility of the situation. Additional forces were also summoned by the authorities concerned. However, the meeting convened by the committee formed to resolve the impasse could not be held due to the strike.

According to sources, talks between the veteran Communist and trade union leader Gurudas Dasgupta and top functionaries of the Haryana government played a crucial role in containing the protest.

The protesters have submitted a charter of demands, which includes a compensation of Rs 50 lakh to Yadav’s family, a job to the next of his kin, immediate arrest of the persons responsible for his death, withdrawal of cases against industrial workers, reinstatement of sacked RICO employees and permission to form a workers’ union in the company.

On the other hand, talking to The Tribune, RICO Auto Industries senior vice-president (corporate-HR) Surendra Singh Chaudhary maintained that the company management was open to talks with workers, but indiscipline would not be tolerated.

In response to a query, Chaudhary categorically blamed AITUC for fuelling the protest. He, however, stressed that the management would sympathetically consider the compensation issue and other genuine demands of the workers.

Expressing concern over the incident, Krishan Kapoor, the general secretary of the Haryana Industrial Association, appealed to the workers not to be misled by vested interests and talk to their management directly.