*22 mill workers sent back to Bihar, Jharkhand*

Staff Reporter
Hindu, 27 September 2009

Coimbatore: Nineteen persons from Bihar and three from Jharkhand, who were
working in a textile mill here, were sent back to their hometowns on Friday
following a skirmish with workers who hailed from Tamil Nadu. The incident
is said to have happened at their place of residence.

Superintendent of Police, Coimbatore Rural, N. Kannan, said a top government
official in Bihar told him over the phone that mill workers from his State
had been injured in a clash with fellow workers here.

Based on the information, the police checked all the textile mills in the
district. The Madukkarai police found that 22 workers of a private textile
mill at Athipalayam in Madukkarai wanted to go back home.

Inquiries revealed that these workers had quarrelled over watching the
channels of their choice on television. The police said no worker was
injured; there had been no violence but only a skirmish.

However, since these workers wanted to leave, the police put them on a train
to their hometowns on Friday. No case was registered as the workers did not
lodge a complaint.

PTI reports from Patna:

Earlier in the day, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had asked authorities
to look into reports that around 20 youths from the State were assaulted in
Coimbatore.

After coming to know about the incident, news of which appeared in a section
of the press here, Mr. Kumar called Principal Secretary (Home) Amir Subhani
and asked him to take it up with his Tamil Nadu counterpart, an official
spokesman said.

Mr. Kumar also asked the Tamil Nadu government to protect the people from
Bihar and take immediate steps to free the youths and arrange for their
transport. According to the Chief Minister, the Bihar government would
provide compensation to the victims, the spokesman said.


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