No 'achche din' for Maggi workers; ban renders hundreds jobless

New Delhi, June 10: The ban on Maggi noodles has left nearly 500 workers jobless as they have been asked not to report to work.

As per a TOI report, Nestle India's plant in Maulinguem, Goa would hire 800 contract workers, but after the ban, about 500 workers were asked not to come to work.

"They told us not to come to work and that they will call us when production restarts," a worker was quoted as saying in the report.

The worker said that he earned a daily wage of Rs 274 and since he has no educational qualification, he cannot think of any other job.

The workers who were either in packaging section or the in the housekeeping section wear sombre faces and hope thatthe production starts soon.

They also feel that Maggi noodles cannot harm anyone as they themselves ahve been eating the snack at the factory itself.

Delhi, Maharashtra, Punjab, Assam, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Jammu and Kashmir, Gujarat, Uttarakhand and Goa have banned Maggi noodles amid mounting food safety concerns and several laboratory tests reporting excessive lead in it.

Cracking down on Swiss giant Nestle, Central health watchdog FSSAI banned all variants of Maggi noodles terming them as "unsafe and hazardous" for human consumption.

The regulator Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), meanwhile, said it will test samples of instant noodles across brands to ensure food safety.

Actors Amitabh Bachchan, Madhuri Dixit and Preity Zinta have also been dragged to the court for promoting the 'two-minute' noodles brand.

OneIndia News