Agitation turns violent at Wistron’s iPhone plant in Kolar

News Network

December 12, 2020

Kolar, Dec 12: Violence erupted at Wistron's iPhone manufacturing plant at Narsapur in Kolar district of Karnataka, over delayed salary payment.

Police said that nearly 2,000 workers, while returning home after a night shift, attacked the factory and smashed windows of the senior executive offices, the factory’s front lobby and flipping parked cars and they even attempted to set fire to the parked vehicles.

The police immediately rushed to the spot and resorted to lathi-charge to disperse the workers. Over 100 agitators have been detained.

It was alleged that the incident was triggered by weeks of shouldering unrest over lack of payments. “The issue has been festering for about 8 to 10 weeks, during which employees were subject to arbitrary changes to their work contracts."

About 90 per cent of the 8,000-strong workforce are contractual workers with a promised salary of Rs 16,000 per month for an 8-hour work shift. But over the last few months, many were being paid only Rs 12,000 and were also told to work for 12 hours a day. People who complained to the management were arbitrarily fired,” the source added.

A source said that most of the workforce dispersed after police allegedly lathi-charged the protesters. Some 60 to 70 employees have been caught by police and have been badly beaten.

M D Harigovind, General Secretary of the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) charged Wistron with exploitative practices. “The industrial violence in Wistron is a direct result of the brutal exploitation of workers and sweatshop-like conditions created by a company, manufacturing the most expensive mobile phones. The state government has allowed the company to flout the basic rights of the workers like payment of wages and working hours. In the absence of any regulation, anarchy has prevailed,” he alleged.

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Why Mangaluru Could Become India’s Next Offshore Wind Energy Hub

News Network

February 3,2026

Dakshina Kannada MP Capt Brijesh Chowta has urged the Centre to give high priority to offshore wind energy generation along the Mangaluru coast, citing its strategic importance to India’s green energy and port-led development goals.

Raising the issue in the Lok Sabha under Rule 377, Chowta said studies by the National Institute of Oceanography have identified the Mangaluru coastline as part of India’s promising offshore wind ‘Zone-2’, covering nearly 6,490 sq km. He noted that the region’s relatively low exposure to cyclones and earthquakes makes it suitable for long-term offshore wind projects and called for its development as a dedicated offshore wind energy zone.

Highlighting the role of New Mangalore Port, Chowta said its modern infrastructure, multiple berths and heavy cargo-handling capacity position it well as a logistics hub for transporting and assembling large wind energy equipment.

He also pointed to the presence of major industrial units such as MRPL, OMPL, UPCL and the Mangaluru SEZ, which could serve as direct buyers of green power through power purchase agreements, improving project viability and speeding up execution.

With Karnataka’s peak power demand crossing 18,000 MW in early 2025, Chowta stressed the need to diversify renewable energy sources. He added that offshore wind projects in the Arabian Sea are strategically safer compared to the cyclone-prone Bay of Bengal.

Calling the project vital to India’s target of 500 GW of renewable energy by 2030, Chowta urged the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy to initiate resource assessments, pilot projects and stakeholder consultations at the earliest.

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