The call for nationwide strike against the alleged “anti-labour” policies of the Union Government had a partial impact on the Gurgaon-Manesar-Bawal industrial region that has an estimated 10,000 industrial units ranging from automobile, pharmaceutical, rubber plants to garments factories.
It was mostly the automobile companies — there are an estimated 1,500 small, medium and large automobile factories in this industrial region — that remained affected due to the strike, whereas it was business as usual for more than 2,500 garments and pharmaceutical companies in Gurgaon. While one of the plants of Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. at Manesar remained closed due to the strike, the remaining three plants, including the one at Gurgaon, were operational. “It was probably due to lack of communication and initiative on part of the trade unions that the Gurgaon Plant union did not take part in the strike. It also had an impact on several vendor companies of the Maruti and they also remained open. However, the Hero Motocorp and the Honda companies were affected by the strike,” said Amit Akash, a workers' rights activist.
Earlier in the day, 13 Maruti workers, including a dismissed worker, were taken into preventive arrest by the Gurgaon Police for allegedly stopping the workers from going to work inside the plant, but were later let off on bail bond. Some of the workers' rights activists alleged that the police entered to the nearby villages in Manesar and forced the contract workers to go to work.
However, the Haryana Roadways and the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam staff in Gurgaon actively participated in the strike staying away from the work. The Gurgaon bus stand wore a deserted look with the harried passengers waiting for buses. “No Haryana Roadways bus has come since morning. Only a few private buses are plying,” said Deepak, a passenger at the Gurgaon bus stand. Also, 70 per cent of the regular staff and 45 per cent of the contractual DHBVN staff was on leave in Gurgaon. Though all three major employees union in Haryana — Sarva Karamchari Sangh, Haryana Karamchari Mahasangh and Sanyunkt Karamchari Sangh — had pledged support to the strike, Haryana Chief Secretary D.S. Dhesi told The Hindu that the attendance in the government departments in the State was as usual.
A large number of striking workers also took out a march from Kamla Nehru Park to Mahavir Chowk in Gurgaon around noon in support of their demands. In addition, an 8-km-long protest march was carried out at the “Japanese Zone” in the Neemrana industrial area under the aegis of Neemrana Mazdoor Manch.
The strike remained peaceful with no reports of violence in Gurgaon. Deputy Commissioner of Police (Headquarters), Gurgaon Vikram Kapoor told The Hindu that more than 500 police personnel were deployed across the district at important installations, including power stations, water treatment plants, bus stands and Haryana Roadways workshops, to prevent any sabotage.
