After the Friday mayhem, it was a desolate Saturday at Regency Ceramics Factory, where billowing smoke from the fury and arson blended with apprehension for the future among a section of workers.

A day after workers, incensed by the death of their union president in police lathicharge, lynched the factory’s president (operations), T. Chandrasekhar, the factory site looked battle-scarred, with burnt vehicles and half-burnt equipment strewn around. Barring a few security and police personnel, no one entered the premises.

Set up in 1983, Regency Ceramics and had gained reputation as South India’s largest tile manufacturing company. It produced 44,000 square meters of commercial and domestic tiles, and had an annual turnover of nearly Rs 200 crore, according to records.

The unit employs 1,200 workers, of whom 800 are on contract, it is learnt. Sources said the company reported net losses for the last three years. “If it reopens, it would need nearly Rs 500 crore,” a company executive said. The mayhem still fresh in their minds, some workers on Saturday expressed concern over the company’s future — and their fate. An employee, whose vehicle was among those torched, said vehicles of many colleagues were damaged in Friday’s arson. “We bought them from a financing company. Now we could lose the vehicle even as the debt remains,” the employee said.

Lorry drivers Mr M. Srinivasa Rao and Mr V. Babji said: “We began steering the company’s vehicles and now we own our own vehicles, thanks to the help of company chairman Mr G.N. Naidu. Our future would be uncertain if the company does not reopen.”