Gutka factory labourers stopped after walking 30 km

TUMAKURU: Panic was writ large on the faces of hundreds of labourers working at the Vimal Gutka Factory at Antharasanahalli when they were stopped by the police and told that they could not go home. Around 450 workers are employed at the factory but around 90 of them - many of them from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar - who were on their way to Bengaluru with the hope of boarding a train were brought back by the police.

They had walked about 30km on Tuesday. The police held a meeting on the premises of the factory and convinced them that their respective state governments had to give permission to facilitate their travel home.SP Dr Kona Vamsi Krishna told The New Indian Express that the labourers could go home only when permission was granted and if they are able to get their names registered on the Seva Sindhu app.

But labourers complained that the app was not working due to server issues and only about 90 of 450 could get register. “Despite the ban on sale of gutka, the factory was functioning. Labourers were provided food and their salaries were also paid on Wednesday,” a source informed.