TN admits to presence of militant labourers in key industrial belts: Mohan Pyare

CHENNAI: Just over a week after violence inside Maruti Suzuki's car plant in Haryana claimed the life of a general manager, sparking national outrage, a top official in the Tamil Nadu government has acknowledged the issue of militant labour in the state.

"The Tamil Nadu government is aware of the militant activities of labour in some of the industrial belts and it is closely watching the situation," Mohan Pyare, the state principal secretary, labour and employment, said in Chennai on Friday.

"We are taking corrective actions to deal with the problem," he said, though he didn't elaborate what these actions were. "We have received complaints from employers. We are also proactively taking action against those indulging in violent activities," he told ET.

The official acknowledgement of the problem would come as a relief to the industry, which has in recent months been spooked by the discovery of some disquieting labour trends.

Earlier this month ET wrote how the industry in the state is trying to come to grips with the startling internal discovery that fringe militant trade unions have incognito established a foothold in key industrial belts.