Indore: The shutdown of two plants at Pratibha Syntex has jolted both the management and the thousands of workers , who have gone off work. It has shaken the whole industrial ecosystem in Pithampur.On fifth day of the shutdown on Wednesday, prominent figures from the local village, and workers union initiated talks with the company’s management to mellow out the protesters and bring things back on track.Over 5,000 workers out of the total 8,500 approached the company to start operations. Representatives of local village, workers union and senior workers met the management of the Pratibha Syntex to extend their support and appealed them to start the operations citing financial troubles of workers due to the shutdown.Pratibha Syntex vice president human resource H S Jha ofsaid, “We were forced to shut the units because they wanted to dictate their terms on us. Not all but some elements disrupted the whole system. But we are happy to see such a great support from the administration and local villagers, who wanted us to start the operations at our third plant.”Representatives said the shutdown has not only hit the workers, but also the villagers since they were earning by supplying tea, snacks and by giving other odd services to the workers.As part of the reconciliation, Pratibha Syntex management has decided to revitalize good workers, who are working in the factory by paying them Rs 3,000 as advance and taking the full responsibility of the education of their children.The production capacity of the plant has dropped to a meager 30 per cent of the total production of 1.5 lakh pieces per day earlier. The company gives employment to 8,500 people.Jha said, “We had to pay crore of rupees as penalties failing to dispatch orders as per the agreement to overseas clients due to the ongoing labourer turbulence.”He said, the company has no plans to start the units in near term, but on the assurance of the local villagers and administration it has kept the third unit running.They said if intervention of political leaders like Medha Patkar is not stopped then Pithampur will turn into another Manesar.Reacting to the blame of sparking the labourer unrest in Pithampur, Narmada Bachao Andolan leader Medha Patkar said, “Labourers are protesting because majority of worker are on contract in Pratibha Syntex and proper labour laws are not followed by the management. The basic pay is very less and hundreds of workers were sacked without any advance intimation.”

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