Then & Now

ChandigarhPost delves into the past to find out what made news then.
Juxtapose that to the present and you can see how much the city has changed or remained the same.
Here is the first story from TOI, which talks about Unrest in the Industrial Estate of Panchkula.

THEN April 17, 2002

Clouds of labour unrest continue to hang low over the industrial estate in Panchkula which is home to over 300 small scale units engaged as ancillaries to larger units, mainly in the automobile sector. With three cases of labour problem reported in last three months, the industrial area here is rife with union activity. It is mostly the larger players like Drish shoes and the state sector Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) which have had to bear the brunt of trade union activity in the recent past. The sluggish economy seems to be at the root of this upheavel. The manufacturing units, feeling the pinch of dwindling orders, are looking for flexibile employment rules. Instead of direct employment, the owners are interested in adopting ‘contract manufacturing’, with greater flexibility on the hire and fire front. The union activity is greater among workers who have spent five years and above in a particular unit and are covered under the labour laws. A visit to the industrial area on monday brought to the fore a protest by workers from two units . First was the demonstration in front of the Drish shoes unit which has a total of 375 workers. The union is affiliated to the All-India Trade Union Congress (aituc). a few blocks away another group of five was staging a chain hunger strike. The company: surya pharmaceuticals. surya pharmaceuticals union general secretary amarpreet singh gill said, ‘‘we have been victimised. The management has transferred all five officebearers of the employees union to their other plants at Baddi and Banur, knowing fully well that they are not in a position to relocate themselves.’’ Surya Pharmaceuticals has over 80 workers on their rolls and the union is affiliated to the left oriented centre for india trade unions (CITU). Earlier, the employees of state owned Bel had adopted confrontation path. The workers were not comfortable with the management decision regarding introduction of smart cards for marking attendance. ‘‘They have not taken our consent before implementing the decision,’’ the union leader had said. the issue was resolved subsequently but it highlights the extent of trade union activity in the industrial area. the individual unions here are affiliated to one or the other central trade unions. and the officebearers of these bodies take an active part in sorting out issues between the workers and the management. times news network witnessed the ongoing deliberations between Drish shoes employee union and the company management, mediated by labour officer Dharampal. however, it was an office-bearer of the aituc haryana state committee who dominated the negotiations which broke the impasse.

NOW December 13, 2007

The Panchkula Industrial Area now has everything: peaceful atmosphere, cordial industrial relations, electricity, water, other facilities; the only thing that is missing is the industry. Industrial units have relocated to nearby industrial areas, mainly Baddi in Himachal Pradesh. And the luckier ones, who owned industrial plots at prime locations, simply sold them off or entered into lucrative arrangements with third - parties to open up show rooms, multiplexes and what not. In a nutshell, industry in Panchkula is dead. Its rather as well. Industrial units should be located in industrial townships, not in middle-class townships like Panchkula.