Close to 500 families residing at Dosti Flamingo Estate in Sewri were under virtual house arrest on Sunday as 18 of their housekeeping employees blocked one of the two gates to protest against the termination of their services.
Close to 500 families residing at Dosti Flamingo Estate in Sewri were under virtual house arrest on Sunday as 18 of their housekeeping employees blocked one of the two gates to protest against the termination of their services. They were backed by a mill workers’ association.
The sacked staffers are former mill workers who were once employed by New China Mill. The housing complex stands on the mill’s land. As per development control rules, former mill workers have to be given employment at any new construction that comes up in place of the mill.
The original contractor had accordingly hired 43 former mill workers as security guards and 22 more as housekeeping staffers. They were in service while construction was on and also after the housing society was formed in June 2010. On February 1, the contract for housekeeping was handed over to a new contractor, who sacked 18 of the 22 former mill workers.
Though the protest from morning till evening on Sunday was peaceful, residents were afraid to step out of their homes. Moreover, the sacked workers had, only the previous day, beaten up five employees brought in by the new contractor.
Harinath Tiwari, leader of the Girni Kamgar Karmachari Nivara ani Kalyankari Sangh, said, “We are requesting the society not to render our men jobless. We have blocked just one gate today, but we may ensure no one enters or exits from both gates if our demands are not met.”
“It is our constitutional right to choose the quality of security and housekeeping services, for which we pay Rs1.80 crore. The present quality certainly does not justify the amount being splurged,” said a resident.
Dosti Builders have appealed to a state-appointed monitoring committee to look into the matter. A meeting is scheduled for March 3.
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