Calcutta, March 4 :     Just when it was putting its best foot forward by ending an ominous loss-making streak and overcoming its labour pangs, Bata India finds itself locked in another row. Only, this time the theatre of conflict has shifted from Batanagar to Faridabad, a satellite town near Delhi. The Bata India management has been forced to declare a lockout after a spell of work disruptions and go-slows culminated in the February 24 impromptu strike, the second in a month after February 16. The stir acted as the trigger for the company-declared suspension but the undercurrents of tension and mistrust were palpable for some time. In the first impromptu strike on February 16, the management had deducted the wages of 1,040 workers. Bata India had signed a wage agreement with the Aituc-controlled union at Faridabad nine months ago. The modernisation plan and its implications were also discussed in these negotiations. The workers are reportedly reluctant to operate a new ?kneader? machine though it was installed as part of the modernisation plan debated with workers last year. Bata India has now decided to shift the majority of its production of rubber canvas shoes to Batanagar. However, sources say the company will have to reconcile itself to lower production, a cost it is ready to bear to turn the Faridabad plant into a viable unit. Meanwhile, the company has finalised wage settlements at Pinia, Hosur and Bataganj at Mokama after the settlement at Faridabad. The agitation has offered the Bata management an opportunity to rein in undisciplined workers at Faridabad. It hopes to remove nagging irritants by including them into the terms for lifting the lockout. Bata is determined to clean up its labour mess. It is trying to turn around a recalcitrant union at Faridabad by adopting a strident stance and chalking out a contingency plan to cope with production losses.