TEAM HERALD
bureau@herald-goa.com
VASCO: Protests by workers outside the Zuari Agro Chemicals Ltd (ZACL) at Zuarinagar took a violent turn on Saturday morning, when a mob assaulted a factory officer and pelted stones at a police official, besides damaging a factory vehicle.
The incident took law enforcement authorities and factory officials by surprise, especially since Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar had met the protesting workers barely an hour earlier and had assured to resolve their grievances within two weeks.
The incident took place shortly after Parrikar and Environment Minister Alina Saldanha met the agitating contract workers near the Zuari petrol pump at Zuarinagar at about 10.30 am.
The agitating workers highlighted the difficulties faced by them and their families due to their retrenchment by ZACL. They informed Parrikar and Saldanha that they had not received their salaries since the last four months, making it virtually impossible to support their families.
After giving them a patient hearing, Parrikar said he would hold talks with the ZACL management and resolve their problem within two weeks.
Speaking to Herald, Parrikar said: “The problem will be resolved within two weeks. The ZACL management and the workers should come together and find a solution within two weeks, failing which the government will step in to solve the four-month old problem.”
After giving them his assurance, Parrikar and Saldanha left the venue and a short while later, the situation took an untoward turn at about 11.30 am.
A group of about 50 protesting contract workers, mainly from the migrant community of Zuarinagar, went berserk and surrounded the cars of two
ZACL officials who had gone to meet Parrikar.
Sensing danger, the ZACL public relations officer Anand Rajadaksh, managed to escape from the scene, but another ZACL official, H Carvalho, got trapped inside the car and the mob didn’t allow him to alight the vehicle.
The mob then began pelting stones at the car, damaging the windscreen, the windows and bonnet of the vehicle. Mormugao Deputy Superintendent of Police Laurence D’Souza and a police team present at the site, quickly intervened to prevent the situation from escalating further and managed to escort Carvalho out of the damaged vehicle. While police was escorting him to safety, the mob assaulted Carvalho with blows.
Some of the migrant workers then began pelting stones at Carvalho. “One stone struck me on my back,” D’Souza told Herald.
As the situation had worsened, additional police reinforcements were summoned from the Vasco and Mormugao police stations.
Police arrested one worker, who was caught red-handed while pelting stones at the car. The mob dispersed when D’ Souza warned the union leader Pratap Mardolkar of resorting to a baton-charge if the mob did not disperse from the site.
Following the intervention of Mardolkar, the protesting workers dispersed from the site.
When asked if the protesting workers were involved in assaulting the ZACL officer and damaging a ZACL vehicle, Mardolkar said: “The agitating workers were from my union, but I do not know the exact reason for the workers to have gone berserk. At the time of the incident, I was at home and I was alerted of the incident only when some of the protesting workers phoned me.”
When contacted, Rajadaksh said his company had filed a police complaint against the agitating workers at Verna police station in connection with the incident on Saturday.
“Despite assuring the workers of solving their problems, they have created problems for themselves by damaging a car and assaulting a ZACL official,” Rajadaksh said.
