Maruti Manesar plant strike: Youth at component units lose jobs

BINOLA/MANESAR (GURGAON): The youth of the tiny Binola industrial belt close to Manesar - the epicentre of the ongoing stir by Maruti workers - are facing the worst. Villagers in the area claimed that 30%-35% of the ITI-trained workforce have been sacked from small plants involved in manufacturing of ancillary auto-parts because of the reduction in Maruti's production between 25% and 50% since June this year. However, these figures were not confirmed by Maruti Suzuki. Villagers, who survive on tenants, are not getting their rents. The Binola industrial belt has close to 60 small-and medium-scale industries. The situation has become so bad that the sacked ITI-trained workers have started working at construction sites to sustain their living. Arvind, who was employed with a small auto-ancillary firm in Binola said he has been sitting jobless for four months. "About 300 colleagues in my company have been asked to leave in the past three to four months. We can't even pay the rent." Now, he has got some whitewash work for some of the houses in the locality, thanks to Diwali. Even his house owner Rishi Prakash, is in a fix as his five tenants have been sacked. He can neither throw them out nor can meet his own need because of low income from rent. All this seems to be going against the striking Maruti workers. "Our young fellows have been left jobless by the handful of workers at the Maruti plant who have vested interest in stopping the production. The company should see that none of them are taken back to work and instead the company should hire fresh people," said Samay Singh, sarpanch of Binola village. This village has about 1,000 families and over 2,000 tenants. Their main source of income is rent. Villagers said in most of the cases their tenants have not been paying rent for the past few months. It's no different in the case of Manesar, which has over 5,000 tenants and a population of over 30,000 excluding tenants. "We have no land left for farming. Some villagers are engaged in small-time business like tiny grocery shops, while most have made one-room accommodations for rental purpose. Our prime source of income is severely affected," village sarpanch Dharambir said.