Powmex Steel Limited. Telegraph picture

Balangir, March 9: Workers of Powmex Steels Limited in Titilagarh, who have been rendered jobless after the factory was closed sine die on Sunday, have demanded that it be reopened.

The management closed the factory sine die after the gruesome murder of deputy general manager Radheshyam Rai last Thursday.

About 100 workers took out a rally in the town yesterday and submitted a memorandum to the chief minister through the Titilagarh sub-collector Biswanath Sahu.

In the memorandum, The workers urged the chief minister to ensure that the factory was opened in larger interest of the workers.

The workers alleged that the factory authorities had closed the unit without taking them into confidence.

Krushna Kumar Sahu, a worker of the factory who has been jobless for a week now after the murder of the DGM of the factory, said the lockout would not resolve the problems between the management and workers. “The workers are in dire need of work and they are willing to work,” he said

What’s more, the workers and employees have not been given their salaries for the month of February; another reason why they are in a miserable condition.

“The workers and employees have not received salary of last month and are facing a lot of difficulty,” said another worker.

The former chairman of Titilagarh Notified Area Council (NAC), Subhransu Dash, said the workers were willing to work in the factory. “If the workers are willing to work in the factory despite the unfortunate incident, I find no logic in why the factory authority has declared a lockout of the unit.”

Dash said the management’s claim that the workers and employees were panic stricken after the incident and were not feeling safe was baseless.

“Several workers were found working till 8pm on that fateful day. How can you say they are panic stricken?”

Titilagarh sub-collector Biswanath Sahu, who received the memorandum, said the workers had raised valid points. “I will send the memorandum to the chief minister,” said Sahu.

A team of officers from the state labour department, led by deputy labour commissioner of Sambalpur, visited the factory today to evaluate the situation.

The deputy labour commissioner, Raghunandan Pattnaik, was accompanied by the assistant labour commissioner of Bhawanipatna, Ranjan Behera, and the district labour officer of Balangir, Pradeep Bhoi. The team visited Powmex Steels factory and the spot where the incident occurred. The team also met management officials and workers. Raghunandan

Pattnaik said he had come to the factory to know about what had prompted the workers to commit such a heinous crime.

“I came here to know the reason that led the workers to commit the crime. I wanted to know the history of labour unrest here and the reason behind such prolonged unrest. I hope that normality will soon return to the factory and the authorities will be able to reopen the factory. I also spoke to some workers,” Pattnaik said.

He refused, however, to make any comment when asked whether the lockout at the factory was legal.

Titilagarh sub-collector Biswanath Sahu said the team visited the factory site and spoke to the management and workers.

“The team came here to ascertain certain facts that led to the gruesome killing of the DGM of the factory. They spoke to the factory authorities as well as the workers,” said Sahu.

A worker said that some of the workers met the team of labour officials and urged them to do the needful to restore normality at the factory. “We requested them to take necessary steps to open the factory as soon as possible. We are jobless after the incident,” he said.