Employees protest outside the IT office in Bhubaneswar. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, July 21: Employees of a business process outsourcing (BPO) unit of an information technology company demonstrated at Chandrashekharpur today and damaged glass doors and windows of the office.

The employees were unhappy after the company officials had told them that the branch would close down at the end of this month because the mobile service provider company, which had assured it of a project here, had opted for another firm for its BPO work.

Sushant Parida, who has been working with the company for three-and-a-half years said that officials from the head office in Mumbai declared four days ago that the BPO unit in Bhubaneswar would be closed down by the month end.

“But they did not give us a proper reason for the closure at such a short notice. They just informed us that the mobile service provider company had scrapped the BPO deal with them. We asked them to provide us alternatives and give us salaries for the notice period as mentioned in the job contract,” said Parida.

The agitating employees said when they confronted with the company officials demanding their salary and other benefits, the authorities did not listen to them. When the situation got out of control and the employees surrounded the officials, Chandrasekharpur police were called.

“In the presence of the police, the officials had assured not to shift equipment from this office until the matter was solved. But yesterday, they took away many computers from here,” said an angry protester.

This morning, around 500 employees protested in front of the company office and later smashed glass doors and windows. However, the agitators claimed the damaged to the property was done by some motorcycle-borne people who had hurled stones while they were staging a silent protest.

Aditya Purohit, another employee, said that if the BPO unit was to be closed, the salaries, employees’ provident funds (EPF), employees’ state insurance (ESI) and other perks of the employees should be cleared following the agreement. “We want the company to reinstate us or ensure our jobs in the new company that have signed the deal with the mobile service provider. Otherwise, they must provide us our salaries for at least two months as per the agreement,” he said.

These employees also have met officials in the labour commission who said they would discuss the matter tomorrow.

The administrator of the BPO unit, Dipankar Singh, said since a new company would undertake the BPO activities of the mobile service provider, this IT company wanted to close down its Bhubaneswar office. “The company will provide perks and salaries for a month. Besides, the new company will recruit these employees. But the employees fear that they will have to start in the new job as freshers and that is why they are creating such a situation here. Talks are going on with them to find out a solution,” said Singh.

The Chandrasekharpur police said they were aware of the incident. “As the company is going to close its office here, the employees fear loss of job and have raised their demands. We are looking into the matter,” said inspector In charge of Chandrasekharpur police station Rabi Satpathy.