CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu Milk Dealers’ Employees’ Welfare Association President Ponnusamy on Sunday issued a strongly worded statement over the recent death of a 30-year-old woman contract staff in a freak accident at Aavin's Kakkalur dairy plant in Tiruvallur. On August 21, while on duty at the plant, Umarani’s head got severed after her dupatta got stuck in the conveyor belt and she got pulled into the machine.

Ponnusamy demanded that a murder case be registered against the general manager of the dairy plant, the plant supervisor, and a senior official of the Kanchipuram Thiruvallur District Cooperative Milk Producers Union in connection with Umarani’s death, as reported by Daily Thanthi.

He added that a case of fraud should also be registered. “The contractor is cheating workers by paying only Rs 250 without paying the daily minimum wage salary of Rs 484 for contract workers,” he alleged.

In his statement, Ponnusamy alleged biased treatment on the part of the Chief Minister. “Chief Minister M K Stalin immediately ordered solatium to be paid to the family of Assistant Commissioner of Police, Kolathur, S Sivakumar, who collapsed and died during security duties for the Formula 4 night street car race. But what about the life of a contract worker of the government?” he asked.

Shockingly, the CM did not even issue a condolence statement for the Aavin worker, the activist alleged.