Thousands of migrant workers protest at IIT-Hyderabad for lack of food, money (Representative Image)
Thousands of migrant workers engaged in construction activities at the Indian Institute of Technology-Hyderabad staged a protest on Wednesday at Kandi in Sangareddy district. The protest took a violent turn as the agitating workers attacked an HR Personnel of L&T, the construction company carrying out the construction work, on the IIT-H Campus. According to the migrant workers, the company was delaying the payment of their wages.
Following the attack, the L&T employees had sought Sangareddy Police's help through a phone call after which cops rushed to the IIT-H campus, as per Telangana Today's report. The protestors also damaged a police van and attacked ASI Sangappa on National Highway-65. The workers outnumbered police personnel that prompted them to inform to the headquarters. Later, Superintendent of Police S Chandrashekar Reddy and DSP Sridhar Reddy reached the spot with more force and brought the situation control after an hour effort.
The police and collector spoke to the workers and noted their grievances being faced by them during coronavirus lockdown. As of now, the situation is under control.
SP Chandrashekar Reddy asked workers to choose six people among them as their representatives discuss their issue before the collector on their behalf. SP Chandrashekar Reddy and Collector Sangareddy M Hanumantha Rao had arranged a meeting between the representatives of Construction Company and representatives of migrant workers.
As many as 1,500 workers with no daily wages were confined to small rooms since the Center announced a nationwide lockdown on March 22. Unable to find a way to feed themselves, the workers reportedly demanded the management to pay the wages, which resulted in the incident.
