Videocon workers stage sit-in at Dhoots' residences

The employees of the crippled Videocon group on Thursday staged a sit-in near the house of the group chairman Venugopal Dhoot here this morning. The police retained the employees in the morning but were released by the afternoon. They were detained as the workers did not seek police permision.

Around 300 employees have been on a chain sit-in since the past 74 days at the labor commissioner's office here demanding their salaries which have not been paid for over year now. Union president Gajanan Khandare told PTI that neither Venugopal Dhoot nor Rajya Sabha member Rajkumar Dhoot came to accept the memorandum of the distressed workers this morning.

He said both the state and Central governments are also not taking any action against the erring management. The protesting employees called for the arresting the Dhoots. "We want to know when we will get justice, but instead of that, we were apprehended and taken to the police station," Khandare said.

A local police official Sambhaji Pawar said they had detained 72 employees from the Gulmandi area where they were protesting and were released after completing the formalities. The Videocon group comprising 13 operating companies, are in bankruptcy tribunal since mid-last year and a resolution is pending. The group companies owe over Rs 1 lakh crore to banks..