Kerala - Alappuzha   

Women workers allege ill-treatment in UP

Staff Reporter

`We escaped with the help of some outsiders'

ALAPPUZHA: A group of women in the district have complained that women workers from various parts of the State are being tormented at a seafood company at Bulandshahar in Uttar Pradesh.

They said the workers of the Madeena Seafood Company were not getting salary and denied access to the outside world.

At a press conference here on Friday, the workers, along with Alappuzha MP K. S. Manoj and Haripad block panchayat president T. S. Taha, said they had undergone terrible torture at the factory but managed to escape with the help of some outsiders.

Mr. Manoj said he had submitted a complaint to the Chief Minister and as a member of the Lok Sabha would take up the issue to save the workers.

Pushpa, a resident of Karuvatta in the district, a worker who managed to escape, said several workers from Karippuzha, Karthikappally, Karuvatta and Pallippad in the district had been recruited to the factory by Rajan of Valayamparambil House, Podiyadi, near Thiruvalla, and his wife Anandavally.

Ms. Pushpa said they were told that the factory processed seafood and were promised a salary of Rs.2,000 a month, free food and accommodation by Mr. Rajan.

"We were promised overtime allowance also," said Ms. Pushpa. "But when we arrived there, we found that the factory processed beef," she said. Further, Mr. Rajan and his wife, who were supervising the works, broke all promises on salary and working hours. The working hours extended from 9 a.m. to midnight. Food and accommodation were not free, she said. "Moreover, when we asked about salary, we were told by Mr. Rajan that we would not get salary as our expenses exceeded our salary," she said.

The women workers from Kerala were not allowed to go outside the factory compound or contact outsiders, she said.

"We could make telephone calls only in the presence of factory officials," said Safia, a worker from Haripad. However, workers from Uttar Pradesh working in the same factory were given proper salary, she said.

Ms. Pushpa said she and her sister Ambalika managed to climb a tree near the compound wall of the factory and escaped. Later, a Keralite in the area helped them return to the State.

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