Pramesh S Jain
After Saturday’s violence at Wistron’s plant in Karnataka’s Kolar,the company said it suffered a loss of Rs 437 crore as thousands of iPhones were looted.
The company said this in its complaint to the police and the labour department.
The total loss incurred by Wistron Infocomm Manufacturing (India) after thousands of workers ransacked its iPhone manufacturing factory at Narasapura industrial area on Saturday is estimated to be Rs. 437.70 crores.
In his complaint to the police,Prashanth TD,the administrative officer at the plant claimed that a group of outsiders armed with iron rods and clubs forced their way into the plant at around 6 and targeted the HR block first.
They breached the four main entrance gates, ransacked offices,smashed lockers and desks and destroyed documents containing the details of employees,said a senior police officer.
Once inside,they were joined by contract workers who had been demanding their wages overdue by three-four months,and overtime pay.We have intensified our probe to identify the ring leaders of the armed mob,based on the complaint filed by Wistron,the police officer added.
Security guards tried to stop them,but were allegedly overpowered and beaten.By then a contingent of police had arrived on the scene,but were overwhelmed by thousands of other workers.Four cars and two golf carts,valued at around 60,00,000 lakhs,parked in the premises were set on fire before an additional police contingent reached the spot.
According to the police FIR,after ransacking offices,the workers moved on to the production unit where phones belonging to the employees kept in lockers,along with other valuables were looted.They allegedly smashed the computers,printers and CCTVs as well as thousands of smartphones that were getting ready for production.
Equipment,including production machinery, phones,laptops,etc,worth Rs 412 core were destroyed.The damage to factory premises itself, including floors,ceilings,AC power units is estimated at Rs.10 crores.
“More than 140 people arrested so far”:
As of Sunday,the police had arrested around 140 people who participated in the violent protest.We have had information on the people who instigated the attack.They are on the run and efforts are on to track them down,the senior police officer added.
Wistron Infocomm Manufacturing (India), which is part of the Taipei-based Wistron Corporation, has around 15,000 ‘employees’,but only around 1,400 are on the rolls.The rest are contract workers,who allegedly joined in the violent protest he added.
Kolar SP,Karthik Reddy told media persons,The employees vandalised the factory around 6:30 am.A lot of property has been destroyed.We are still investigating what led to it.
They work in two shifts.There are about 7-8,000 workers.We have just been able to disperse the mob with lathicharge.Two vehicles to move things within premises were brunt.We are trying to identify the miscreants,he said.
“The Karnataka government condemned the incident of violence at Wistron’s factory in Narasapura, Kolar.
Deputy Chief Minister,CN Ashwathnarayan said, Have spoken to the SP, Kolar to ensure that all measures are taken to bring the situation under immediate control and the culprits are identified. Strict action will be taken under the law against the errant elements he added.
