Brutal Opression of Labour in NOIDA : May Day becomes Black Day

By Joseph Maliakan

” Workers of the World United !

You have nothing to loose but your chains “

The month of April  New Okla Industrial Development Authority ( NOIDA ) area witnessed unprecedented opression of  factory workers and their families including women and children . There was complete breakdown of the rule of law in the industrial town which was built as a model town for the rest of the country. That this repression was carried out only weeks before we approached the 2026 May Day which signifies the inalienable rights of the workers is a shame as well as a paradox. Because in NOIDA the workers were fighting not just for minimum wage , eight hour working hours , but for their survival. During the workers struggle the managements, the administrators and the police who are dutybound to protect their rights and wellbeing  blatantly violated every rule in the book.`

NOIDA was officially established on 17 April 1976 as a planned city under the UP Industrial Area Development Act  by merging 36 rural villages  situated on the eastern Bank of the Yamuna River. It was designed as an industrial hub to relieve urban pressure on Delhi . It later became part of Gautam Budh Nagar district formed in 1997.

It was designed to provide , industrial, commercial and residential infrastructure , particularly to relocate polluting industries from Delhi. It is part of the National Capital Region ( NCR ) . The area was site of the Battle of Patparganj in 1803 , part of the second  Anglo-Maratha War , with a memorial situated inside the NOIDA Golf Course in Sector 37. Over the years NOIDA has evolved from an industrial town to a major IT and residential hub , which is described as one of the greenest cities of India.

A fact finding team of members of the All India Lawyers Union, Students’ Federation of India and the Democration Youth Federation of India has found that during the agitation by the NOIDA factory worker the Uttar Pradesh police made large-scale illegal detentions of workers and their families , in violation of rights guaranteed under the Indian Constitution as well as various Labour Laws.

According to the report the police have not even bothered to keep proper number of workers and their families it had detained from time to time during the workers protest against various injustices. According to eyewitness accounts at one time the NOIDA police had detained some 350 jeveniles and more than 800 workers.

Detentions were made in different phases . On 13 and 14 April people including minors , factory workers and construction workers and even bystanders were picked up by uniformed and plainclothes police. And on 15 and 16 April hundreds of workers were detained from their workplaces at the behest of factory managements.

 

Families of detaininees were not given information about their whereabouts or the grounds of detention. Most were held under Section 151 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The Section says that ” A police officer knowing of a  design to commit any cognizable offence may arrest without orders from a Magistrate and without a warrant , the person so designing , of it appears to such officer that the commission of offence cannot be otherwise prevented . ” One wonders since when has workers protesting against injustices and demanding their lawful rights have become cognizable offences in ‘ democratic ‘ India.The report further said that several detainees were not even produced before the magistrates on time and arrest memos were not provided meaning many were held illegally.

The report also accused the police officer using undue force by resorting to lathicharge to disperse workers protesting peacefully outside factory gates demanding minimum wages.The police also spread the unfounded rumour that the protests were a result of instigation by external forces, the report added.

The report further described the illegal detentions by the police a violation of the fundamental constitutional rights and demanded disclosure of the detainees’ whereabouts, release of the copies of the FIRs and provide legal aid to the detainees through the Legal Aid Authority.

Another fact finding team of Jan Hastakshep demanded that administration unconditionally release all the arrested and widhraw all cases registered against the workers because all depressive actions against workers were illegal and unconstitutional. It also called for punitive action against guilty factory owners , labour department officials who failed to implement minimum wages and the police officials who resorted to violece to quell rightful protests by workers.

The factories the report said were paying the workers wages below the minimum wages prescribed by the UP government . The labour department officials connived with the factory owners to deprive the workers of minimum wages the report added.

The system of contrat labor prevalent in NOIDA industrial area was primarily responsible for the exploitation of the workers the report pointed out.  Also some employers in NOIDA had even taking advantage the lax implementation of the labour laws had even terminated the services hundreds of workers and reemployed them on lower wages , the report said.