Arun Singh
Early Times Report
Jammu, May 19: The workers of Gangyal Gun Factories, who are protesting and striving hard against exploitation at the hands of their employers staged protest for the sixth consecutive day Tuesday. The protesting employees, it has been reliably learnt have been threatened by the employers.
The adamant owners of Gun Factories at Ashok Nagar seem unrelenting to concede the demands of gun workers and are now intimidating the employees.
There are around 500 employees working in 19 factories like Free India Gun Works, Hemraj Gun Manufacturers, Standard Gun Works, Khalsa Gun Works, Bhumra Gun Works, Pritam Gun works, Santokhoo Gun Works, Kalsi Gun Works, Uttam Gun Works, Goverdan Lal & Sons Gun Works, New Kashmir Syndicate Gun Works, Syndicate Gun Works, Amar Workshop, Khairu-Din Gun Works, Popular Gun Works, Friends Gun Works, Bhargav Arms Company and Modern Gun Works.
The owners of all Gun Factories', whose workers are protesting, had been ostensibly denied to concede their genuine demands, which are being exploited at the hands of their owners in the guise of contact basis and get very meagre rate.
The employees said that they have given number of representations to the management but they every time they turned deaf ears to their genuine and long pending demands like job on monthly salary and deduction of Employees Provident Fund (EPF) and ESI of the 50% remaining employees, and tools be provided by the employers.
"We had met the Chairman of Gun Factories Owners Union Balbir Singh, President Sanjay Sharma, Vice President Lavinder Sharma many a time and put forth our demands, but they out rightly rejected their demands every time," Protesting employees alleged.
"Now the owners are trying to intimidate us by saying that they are not scared of the strike and it will make no difference even if it continues for the next two months. They will return to work the moment they starve, " they said.
Sources told Early Times that all gun manufactures earn huge profit from each gun by evading tax."These gun manufactures sell their guns to dealers on exorbitant price but the bills are manipulated to suit their interests," they said adding that a Single Barrel Gun is sold to a dealer at the rate of Rs 15,000 but bill shows just Rs 7000. That means for every single gun, the owners earn an amount of 8000 in black.
Similarly Double Barrel Gun is sold at the rate of Rs 16000 and bill is given of Rs 8500.
They further disclosed that the gun dealers, who are mostly these manufactures who had opened these outlets, sell a single barrel gun at of ` 30,000 to ` 35000 and Double Barrel Gun is sold at of ` 40,000 to ` 50,000 thereby they earn huge profits but they don't give genuine wages to their workers. |
