Stalin meets migrant workers allays fears triggered by rumours

Stalin meets migrant workers allays fears triggered by rumours

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister visits a glove manufacturing unit; interacts with labourers from Jharkhand and enquires about their food, stay, working conditions and working hours.

To allay the fears among migrant labourers following the rumours on social media platforms that workers from Bihar were being attacked in Tamil Nadu, Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Tuesday met labourers from Jharkhand working in a surgical glove manufacturing unit near Kaavalkinaru in Tirunelveli district.

Mr. Stalin, who was proceeding to the Thoothukudi airport from Nagercoil where he attended a few functions on Monday and Tuesday, visited the factory of Kanam Latex Industries Pvt. Ltd., near Kaavalkinaru, on the Tirunelveli-Kanniyakumari border and interacted with the migrant labourers.

The Chief Minister enquired with the workers from Jharkhand about the food, stay, working conditions, working hours and other facilities being provided to them by the management. Most of them told Mr. Stalin that they felt secure. One male worker told him in Hindi that he had panicked when he received the disturbing visuals purportedly showing the migrant workers being targeted in Tiruppur. Mr. Stalin dismissed it as the handiwork of “a few mischievous people” spreading rumours to trigger panic.

Asra Garg, Inspector-General of Police, South Zone, translated the youth’s apprehension. Mr. Stalin replied, “The visuals are not from Tiruppur… It is an old video from some other place. We are here to protect you, and hence you need not worry.”

An official release said around 450 workers were employed in the company. Of them, more than 150 workers, including 30 women, are from Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal.

The workers said some of them had been working here for six years, some had been living with their families and many had been working here for a year or two.

They informed the CM that their work environment was very good, all facilities, including quality food and shelter, were being provided by the company, and people here were treating them like brothers and they were living safely, as if they were in their home town.