Workers lay siege to Chennai-Bengaluru highway over food poisoning cases

Hundreds of women working in a private mobile manufacturing unit near Sriperumbudur sat on a dharna on the busy Chennai-Bengaluru highway for over eight hours demanding the health status of their colleagues admitted to a hospital after suspected food poisoning, severely affecting traffic.

The women working with Foxconn blocked traffic on the highway at midnight Saturday causing severe inconvenience to those travelling towards Kanchipuram, Vellore, Tirupattur, Hosur, and Bengaluru for hours together. As the protesters showed no signs of relenting, the traffic was diverted via Sunguvarchatiram on Saturday morning, after traffic came to a halt on one side of the highway for over eight hours.

The blockade was a nightmare for thousands of people who hit the road to go to their native places over the weekend. The Chennai-Bengaluru NH is one of the busiest roads as it connects the capital cities of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

The women workers of the mobile manufacturing unit allege that hundreds of them took ill after they consumed food at the hostel facility being provided by the company in near-by Tiruvallur district on Wednesday. Several were admitted to various hospitals in the districts, the women said, and alleged that eight of them did not return.

In an update on Saturday evening, the Tiruvallur district administration said as many as 159 workers staying in a hostel managed by Foxconn took ill on Wednesday and only four were still in hospital.

“All are doing well and completely out of danger. It is also informed that no deaths are reported in this outbreak,” Tiruvallur Collector Alby John said.

Demanding the health status of the eight persons and better conditions and food in the hostel, the women workers took to the streets by sitting on a dharna on the highway. The women did not budge from their stand for hours together prompting Kanchipuram district collector Dr M Aarthi to visit the protest site and hold talks with them.

Scotching rumours that two of the workers, who did not return to the hostel, have passed away, the district collector made video calls to them from the protest site and spoke to them in front of their colleagues. The workers complained of poor quality of food being provided by the hostel management and demanded the district administration’s intervention.

After talks with the protesting women, Aarthi told reporters that the administration will conduct an audit to check the living conditions in hostels in Kanchipuram district.

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