Mysuru: The employees of Falcon Tyres who are not getting salary for the past many months (nearly two years) have now threatened to commit mass suicide if their long pending demands are not met by the management and government at the earliest. Most of the employees are unable to afford three squares a meal a day and have not even been able to pay school fees of their and rent for their houses.
On Tuesday, to their surprise, Sapthagiri Enterprise, which had supplied rubbers to the factory to manufacture tyres and had not received dues of upto Rs 2 Crore from the management, sent its representatives with a court order to Falcon Tyre premises and tried to attach the slicing machine in the factory. Due to timely intervention by MLA GT Devegowda, Vasu and district officials, the representative of Sapthagiri Enterprises refrained from attaching the machine. Due to lack of security, the employees themselves are safeguarding the factory by looking after it in shifts. The employees with a lot of hope that the factory will resume any day have kept the shop floor clean and neat.
Anand and Shivanne Gowda, President and Secretary of Falcon Employees Union requested the government and management to provide them interim relief till the issues are solved so that the families which have almost come to streets can relax. “Most of the families are facing a lot of hardship and most of them have pledge all their valuables and are left with nothing. If government and management fail to intervene then definitely most of the employees with no other option, may take extreme steps including committing suicide. Many times we have convinced our employees who were in distress but now the fate of most of them is very bad. Anything may happen at any moment” added Shivanne Gowda. On October 27, the chief minister assured that their problems will be solved in 48 hours’ time but nothing has happened. The employees along with their family members including their children staged a protest and observed a one-day fast demanding Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s intervention and settlement of their long-pending issues. Six meetings have been held at Vidhana Soudha, but there is no major decision taken in this regard”, they lamented.
D Randeep, Deputy Commissioner said, “Recently we sold tyres which were in the factory and provided some financial assistance to the employees. In days to come, the machinery in the factory will be auctioned and on first priority basis employees’ dues will be met and later that of vendors.”
On March 2 or 3, they will also be meeting former Prime Minister H D Devegowda for his help to solve their long pending problems. The employees along with their family members also met Dr Yathindra, son of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah who too has assured to do his best for the welfare of the employees. On few occasions, Dr Yathindra also brought this to the notice of Siddaramaiah.
