Muscat: Some 2,000 workers of NCC (Nagarjuna Construction Company) International went on a flash strike at different work sites of the Indian company in Oman.
“We have not been paid for the last two months,” a worker told Gulf News on condition of anonymity out of fear of retribution. He said that 2,000 workers went on strike on Sunday.
The company’s General Manager Hamoud Al Amri, however, denied any knowledge of the strike.
“How can you believe if workers claim to be on strike, there’s no strike,” he said while talking to Gulf News by phone later in the evening.
The workers were in no mood to relent if their dues were not paid. “Some of our colleague are still staging a sit-in,” the worker said, adding that the company owes two-months’ salary and overtime payments.
The worker from a southern Indian state said that he was working for the company for four years and came to Oman after paying 20,000 Indian rupees to a recruiting agent. “Some workers have paid much more to the agent,” he added. All the workers are from different states of India.
The helpless worker asked: “What do we do without salary?” He further complained that most workers had come here to work for the Indian company with the hope to make a better living. “The situation now is that they are not getting paid,” he added.
He said that workers at Quriyat, who are building houses for the cyclone-hit citizens, approached the Quriyat police station. “I am not aware of the outcome as I am at a different site,” he pointed out.
Around 400 NCC workers went to the police station, after going on flash strike, to register their grievances. The workers at the Amarat site, where the Indian company is doing major roadwork, also went on strike.
The NCC has a number of projects in Oman under their NCC International branch, including a contract to build the Batinah coastal road.
