Siliguri, Feb. 5: Ten workers were injured in a clash between Citu and a Trinamul Congress-affiliated union over the control of the labour force at the Coca Cola bottling plant on the Raninagar Industrial Estate in Jalpaiguri this morning.

Following the clash, work at the plant, located 30km from here, came to a halt.

“We were organising a meeting in front of the plant’s main gate to protest against the threats our members were receiving from the Inttuc (Indian National Trinamul Trade Union Congress). Suddenly, a group of Inttuc workers started attacking us. They ransacked the sound system and chairs,” said Aditya Mishra, a district secretariat member of the Jalpaiguri unit of the Citu. He added that six of their supporters had been injured.

About 50 policemen from Jalpaiguri rushed to the spot and brought the situation under control. The speakers and microphones were seized and a police picket was set up. However, no complaints were lodged.

Mithu Mohanto, the Jalpaiguri district president of the Inttuc, said: “Considering the present political situation in the state, the workers at the plant switched allegiance and enrolled with our union. The Citu leaders are not accepting this and desperately want to keep control over the labourers. It seems that the clash was the fallout of internal problems in the Citu.”