CM Stalin meets migrant workers at Tirunelveli, allays fears triggered by social media rumours
The Hindu
The Chief Minister enquired with labourers from Jharkhand about the food, stay, working conditions, working hours and other facilities being provided to them by the management.
In a bid to allay the fears among the migrant labourers following the rumours on social media platforms that workers from Bihar were being attacked in Tamil Nadu, Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Tuesday met labourers from Jharkhand working in a surgical glove manufacturing unit near Kaavalkinaru in Tirunelveli district.
Mr. Stalin, who was proceeding to the Thoothukudi airport from Nagercoil where he attended a few functions on Monday and Tuesday, entered the factory of Kanam Latex Industries Pvt. Ltd. near Kaavalkinaru on the Tirunelveli-Kanniyakumari district border and interacted with the migrant labourers.
The Chief Minister enquired with labourers from Jharkhand about the food, stay, working conditions, working hours and other facilities being provided to them by the management. Most of them told Mr. Stalin that they felt secure.
One of the male workers from Jharkhand told him in Hindi that he had panicked when he received on social media the disturbing visuals purporting to show the migrant workers being targeted in Tiruppur. Mr. Stalin dismissed it as the handiwork of “a few mischievous people” spreading rumours to trigger panic.
Asra Garg, Inspector-General of Police, South Zone, translated the Jharkhand youth’s apprehension to Mr. Stalin. The Chief Minister replied, “The visuals are not from Tiruppur... It is an old video from some other place. We are here to protect you and hence you need not worry.”
An official release said around 450 workers were employed in the company. Of them, more than 150 workers, including 30 women, are from Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal.