NAINITAL: Two days after the Food Safety Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) moved the Supreme Court over the ban imposed on Maggi, workers at the Rudrapur plant of Nestle are in a quandary over their future.
Former contractual workers of the plant were forced to work as rickshaw pullers and perform other odd jobs fearing that production at the plant would be delayed, thereby dashing their hopes of re-employment.
As one interacts with these workers, a number of whom are migrants, working at the plant was not only a matter of pride but also a steady source of income. They say they have pinned their hopes on the Bombay high court's recent order giving a clean chit to Maggi and hoped that production resumes soon.
Stating that there were reports that the matter was being taken again to the Supreme Court, Ramesh Jha, a former contractual worker, said, "This may hinder the start of production in SIDCUL (State Industrial Development Corporation of Uttarakhand Limited), Udham Singh Nagar plant of Nestle. We fear that the process will get delayed far more than we expected."
Apart from on-roll employees of the company, over 1,100 contractual workers, vendors, transporters and other associates of the organization were hoping for a breakthrough in the ongoing freeze but the same seems to have been marred now.
Production units of Nestle in SIDCUL had halted production after the ban. All five units in the factory used to produce around 300 tonnes of Maggi noodles per day.
State food safety commissioner Raelier had on Monday written a letter to the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (a copy of which is with TOI) asking the central body to clarify if the ban imposed on June 5 was still active or not.
Ban on the noodles and suspension of its production in SIDCUL production plant had provoked Lalta Prasad, a contractual worker hailing from Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh, to commit suicide in June this year as he was rendered jobless.
The Food Safety Department of the hill state had decided to ban Maggi on June 3 after objectionable amounts of monosodium glutamate (MSG) was found in the product.
Former contractual workers of the plant were forced to work as rickshaw pullers and perform other odd jobs fearing that production at the plant would be delayed, thereby dashing their hopes of re-employment.
As one interacts with these workers, a number of whom are migrants, working at the plant was not only a matter of pride but also a steady source of income. They say they have pinned their hopes on the Bombay high court's recent order giving a clean chit to Maggi and hoped that production resumes soon.
Stating that there were reports that the matter was being taken again to the Supreme Court, Ramesh Jha, a former contractual worker, said, "This may hinder the start of production in SIDCUL (State Industrial Development Corporation of Uttarakhand Limited), Udham Singh Nagar plant of Nestle. We fear that the process will get delayed far more than we expected."
Apart from on-roll employees of the company, over 1,100 contractual workers, vendors, transporters and other associates of the organization were hoping for a breakthrough in the ongoing freeze but the same seems to have been marred now.
Production units of Nestle in SIDCUL had halted production after the ban. All five units in the factory used to produce around 300 tonnes of Maggi noodles per day.
State food safety commissioner Raelier had on Monday written a letter to the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (a copy of which is with TOI) asking the central body to clarify if the ban imposed on June 5 was still active or not.
Ban on the noodles and suspension of its production in SIDCUL production plant had provoked Lalta Prasad, a contractual worker hailing from Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh, to commit suicide in June this year as he was rendered jobless.
The Food Safety Department of the hill state had decided to ban Maggi on June 3 after objectionable amounts of monosodium glutamate (MSG) was found in the product.
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