Coimbatore, Apr 14: Thousands of migrant labourers from northern and eastern India have begun leaving their jobs in Coimbatore after the arrest of a Maoist by West Bengal police here last week.
The migrant labourers are being forced to undergo police verification by the local police and are being subjected to harassment. The employers are being asked to sack labourers who do not have proper identity and address proofs.
The local industrialists have asked the Tamil Nadu government to intervene and tackle the power crisis and labour shortage .
Out of the total labour force working in the engineering township of Coimbatore, more than 40 per cent of the workers are from West Bengal, Odisha, Rajasthan, Assam and Uttar Pradesh.
Most of the workers are appointed through agents and due to lack of proper identification, the workers are being forced to quit Coimbatore and leave for their native places.
Most of the MSME (medium, small and micro enterprises) in Coimbator employ migrant labourers and the employers are now facing a crisis of labourers.
Nearly 6,000 units have stopped production due to power crisis, labour shortge and return of migrant labourers, an employer said.
