65 workers on strike seeking wages held; others flee to jungle.
Around 1,200 Indians, who were taken to Angola to work in a cement factory on contract, are being held as hostages by the factory owner after they struck work demanding payment of wages.
Vijay Valmik, a resident of Gujarat who is among the workers stuck in the African nation, said the factory owner called the police to control the strike. The police fired 200-300 rounds and lobbed tear-gas shells to disperse the workers, he told over phone.
At least 32 workers were arrested on Thursday. The others fled to the nearby forests and have been hiding there without food or water. A worker who was wounded in the police firing has received no medical assistance and still has a bullet lodged in his thigh.
This cement factory is situated 28-km away from the Sumbe city in Angola. Indian workers have been working in the cement factory for many years. “We were brought here for work by ETA Star International agency. We have not been paid remuneration for overtime work since February. We are meeting our expenses here by overtime payments only, as our salaries are deposited in India in our bank accounts. We don’t have any money to survive here now,” said Valmik.
The local police on Friday continued their hunt for the hiding labourers and have arrested more of them. The number of arrested workers has gone up to 65 even as the others are thinking of surrendering to the authorities with no other solution in sight.
Valmik said, “After strike for 24 days, we all moved out from the factory on Tuesday. The personal assistant of Sumbe’s governor met us and assured that we would be given our dues on Wednesday (May 10). As per agreement, the company was to pay money in US dollar but on Wednesday they offered to pay us in Konza —currency of Angola —which is not accepted by the banks. So we refused and most of the workers lost their patience and set 17 motorbikes on fire in the factory. Reacting to it, the factory owners called the police.”
The Indian embassy in Angola has said that it is trying to sort out the matter. However, the workers claim that the embassy has failed to do anything so far. Officials at the external affairs ministry in New Delhi said the Indian ambassador to Angola had sent them his report on the strike.
“We have received ambassador Debraj Pradhan’s report on the issue. He has arranged meetings with the ministers of the Angola government to sort out the matter. It should be mentioned that the workers had failed to understand that it was their contractor who had not received payments from the company. That is why payment of workers’ overtime wages got delayed,” said Sanjiv Kohli, joint secretary in Western Africa department, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
Kohli further said that the cement company had adopted a policy of ‘no work, no pay’ when the workers struck work and that this had led to the violent confrontation. “Now the Indian embassy is trying to resolve the matter,” he added.
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