 In response to this decision, strikes were called by the workers of the Bengal–Nagpur railway at Kharagpur in February 1927 and Lilooh in March 1928.During 1928, there was general discontent among the workers of the South Indian Railway Company over the long working hours, low wages and racial discrimination against native Indians in the railway.At about the same time, the management of the South Indian Railway Company decided to lay off over 3,100 workers to compensate for the purchase of costly machinery in the workshops at Podanur, Negapatam and Trichinopoly.