Noida Factory Workers’ Protest: 40,000 Noida factory workers protest wage stagnation- some got just Rs 39 raises- as Haryana’s pay hike exposed a widening survival crisis.
Noida Factory Workers’ Protest: The protests turned violent in Phase-2 and Sector 63, where demonstrators threw stones at police and torched vehicles and property.
Noida Factory Workers’ Protest: Roads were blocked and vehicles set ablaze as more than 40,000 factory workers poured out across 80 locations in Noida in one of the most disruptive labour uprisings the industrial city has seen in years. The spark was the Haryana government’s decision to hike minimum wages for workers in neighbouring Manesar. The protests turned violent in Phase-2 and Sector 63, where demonstrators threw stones at police and torched vehicles and property.
Surendra Kashyap, measurement checker at Anubhav Apparels told the Indian Express that he left Sambhal in Uttar Pradesh for the factory floors of Noida. At 18, he earns Rs 13,000 a month, pays Rs 4,000 in rent and watches whatever remains dissolve against a gas cylinder now costing Rs 400 a kilogram.
“Workers there had their salaries increased to Rs 20,000 for eight hours of work- so why not ours?” he said. His own wages were recently raised by Rs 320 in total. The indignities, he says, go well beyond the pay slip. His employer demands 70 pieces an hour.
“If we don’t supply, they humiliate us,” he said. Workers are pressed into night shifts, told not to bother coming back if they fall ill and threatened with dismissal if they refuse to work Sundays.
Export garment factory worker Rahul told the outlet that he arrived in Noida from Kannauj in 2018. He is 25, married and the father of two children- aged three and one. He earns Rs 13,500 a month and saves nothing to send home.
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“I pay Rs 5,000 rent for my room and spend Rs 4,000 on rations. How can I manage? How will I ever send my children to school?” he said. Last year, his employer raised his salary by just Rs 39.
“The company HR just doesn’t listen to us,” he said.
Mohd Noor Alam, garment embroidery worker, said that he earns Rs 20,000- more than most of those standing beside him on the protest lines- and still cannot save a single rupee or send a paisa to his mother in Sitamarhi. A gas cylinder runs to Rs 5,000 on the black market, he said but even setting aside fuel, the price of every basic necessity has been climbing steadily and without pause.
“People are being forced to go to bed hungry,” he said, adding, “If prices of basic things go up by Rs 100, our pay should go up by Rs 120. Why is that not happening? Do we not work?”
April 14, 2026, 17:46 IST
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