121 Days and Still Counting…

The protests and demonstrations organised by Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), outside the Diamond restaurant and mart in Shimla, have now been going on since 121 days on account of their demands not being met by the owner.

It was earlier reported that CITU had organised a 36-hour mahapadav outside the deputy commissioner’s office after the owner of Diamond restaurant had fired two of their employees without any prior notice as a suspected measure of retrenchment on the owner’s part since there were no allegations of any misconduct on the part of the workers. They have demanded the reemployment of the workers and instead of negotiations and dialogue, 19 other workers were also fired without paying salaries or prior notices and the premise was put under a lockout without taking permission from the Labour Department.

The restaurant which remains under a constant illegal lockout by the owner, has also violated the EPF rules, as it did not deposit the funds reportedly despite making deduction in their wages in the name of EPF.

The firm has now been illegally allowing family members and their current employees through the back door which leads to their kitchen to carry on the production of their goods which they are allegedly transporting to their other outlets. “They are using their employees and family members to continue cooking in the kitchen and are transporting the goods to Shoghi and their mart where they are selling it without any bill”, a protestor stated. “It is illegal to lockout the premise and if they want to run their restaurant, they need to re employ the employees that they fired. We have urged the Superintendent of Police and SHO, New Shimla to stop them from carrying out their activities, despite that we have not received any help.”

CITU District Secretary Vajinder Mehra has maintained that the state has remained blind towards the violation of labour norms and the workers have been facing discriminatory actions from the government.

However, Labour Commissioner Himanshu Shaikhar Chaudhary had said that persecution proceedings have been initiated against the owner and the owner has been issued a notice. He also had assured justice to the victims. On April 22, it was even promised in written that they would organise a meeting to negotiate the workers’ demands with the administration.

These demands have not even been taken seriously by the authorities, let alone been fulfilled even though their dharnas have now entered their 121stday. The police also tried to suppress the workers after lathi charge when they tried to cordon the SP for intervention. The workers of CITU and the victims believe that despite the knowledge of the ongoing protests, the police, the district department and the Labour Department have been largely unsympathetic towards the workers who are exercising their legal right through peaceful protests in order to get justice.

The owner of Diamond is a BJP leader, and his wife is a councillor from Rajhana area in the Shimla Municipal Corporation. It was also reported that madam councillor along with the Mayor of Shimla had met with the chief minister to seek ‘advice’ over the same. The workers have raised several questions as to how the mayor had the time to meet the CM when the entire town had been reeling under an alarming water shortage over weeks and still had no respite. This is giving rise to suspected foul play and is hinting towards shielding the owner by the state authorities. Mr Mehra believes that the state authorities have shown sentiments of utmost ignorance and of least regard towards the working class which should compel one to think why has the Jai Ram Government failed to ensure justice to the workers despite being given memorandums to the chief secretary and the labour commissioner? Progress and development has been absent despite the labour commissioner and the deputy commissioner wanting a resolution. After all, the demands are easy and simple: rightfully reemploy the workers, end the illegal lockout, and make payments to the employees who have also suffered because of the illegal lock out.

The constant struggle of the CITU members and the resistance to pay any heed by the Diamond administration is going to result in continued and indefinite protests outside the restaurant and from the August 2, outside the Labour Department as well. Sanjay Chauhan, former Mayor of Shimla said, “We are open for negotiations and we want to only help bring justice to the workers who were victims of retrenchment by the owner. We are not satisfied with the negligible and biased intervention of the state authorities since this matter has been going on from so long and they are unable to get him to even turn up to address our concerns. The protests have been going on for more than 121 days now but we will continue to fight for workers’ rights and against unlawful and unscrupulous practices of the authorities and the state.”