Ranchi, Oct 14 Women workers of a private company in Ranchi district blocked NH-33 connecting the Jharkhand capital with industrial hub Jamshedpur for over three hours on Wednesday, demanding fair wages, police said.
Dassam Police Station officer-in-charge Kundan Singh told PTI that women workers employed at a private readymade garments manufacturing unit blocked the NH-33 stretch near Pancha, demanding fair wages and resolution of issues related to working hours and workplace security.
“The protest led to long queues of vehicles on both sides of the highway, and several examinees from Ranchi going for the Staff Selection Commission (SSC) Combined Graduate Level (CGL) exam to Jamshedpur were stranded due to the agitation,” the police officer said.
One of the examinees, Gaurav Kishore (27), a resident of HEC Colony in Ranchi, expressed anguish at missing the exam due to the agitation.
“We took a bus from Ranchi at 8 am as our exam was scheduled at 1 pm and it usually takes nearly three hours to reach Jamshedpur. However, at around 9.30 am, when we reached Pancha, the bus could not move on. We waited for half an hour and started walking on advice of other passengers,” said Kishore.
He claimed that after nearly a kilometre they could get another bus for Jamshedpur from near Bundu.
“However, we reached the exam centre at Mango in Jamshedpur after 1 pm and were not allowed to take part in the exam,” lamented Kishore.
The police officer, however, said that after assurance that the Ranchi labour officer would hold a tripartite meeting with the company, workers and the labour department on Thursday on their demands, the workers called off their agitation in the afternoon.
(PTI News)
