'PM worried': Karnataka CM on shocking & damaging violence at Winstron iPhone mfg plant

Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa on Thursday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is "very much worried" about the recent violence at the Wistron iPhone manufacturing plant in Karnataka. The Chief Minister also assured his government's full support to the company for restarting production.

'This incident should not have happened': Karnataka CM

"The government has given necessary instructions and such things would not be repeated," he told reporters in Bengaluru. We have taken action, It is a very important foreign company and this (incident) should not have happened. The Prime Minister is also very much worried about this development," Yediyurappa said. "...We will give full support to that company, without any problem let them continue production," he added.

A section of workers at the plant, run by the Taiwanese contract manufacturer for Apple at Narsapura in Kolar district, had gone on a rampage on Saturday over alleged delay in payment of salary and overtime wages.

Earlier on Thursday, Karnataka Police detained Srikanth, taluk president of Students' Federation of India in Kolar in connection with the case. Over 160 people have been arrested by the police in connection with the violence during which stones were hurled, windows and doors broken and vehicles in the parking lot overturned and set on fire. Video footage of the attack had flooded social media

State Labour Minister Shivaram Hebbar on Wednesday had said investigations into the violence were on and a report was likely in a couple of days. He expressed hope about the factory restarting production soon with the central government also involved in addressing issues. The Union Commerce and Industry Ministry has advised the state government to complete at the earliest inquiry into the violence and to ensure that investor sentiment was not affected by this one-off incident.

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Meanwhile, Wistron, on Wednesday said that the damage in its factory unit in Kolar's Narasapura due to the violence on December 12 amounted to between Rs 26 crore to Rs 52 crore and not the Rs 437 crore as estimated earlier. The company in a letter to the Karnataka government marked down the extent of damage caused to their manufacturing unit in the Kolar facility from Rs 437 crore to Rs 26 crore-Rs 52 crores. The company said no major damage was caused to their manufacturing equipment and warehouses.

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(With agency inputs)