Surat textile industry workers return home following closure of factories

SURAT - Textile industry workers in Gujarat’s Surat city are returning to their hometowns, after factories where they were employed closed down following a labourers strike over better wages and other facilities.

The workers called off the strike on January 21 after a meeting with mill owners, but even after that, they have not returned to work.

“There are a lot of problems in the factories and they beat us. If anyone asks to increase the wages, then the rich men kill them. The factories are closed since the last 15 days. We are in lot of trouble and we don’t even get our wages. We don’t even have money. We will have to manage, somehow,” said Utsav Kumar, a labourer.

Police personnel have been deployed at all loom factories in the city so that the protesting textile workers do not affect the textile industry.

“We are witnessing that in the last 10-15 days, thousands of labourers are leaving the city and returning to their hometowns,” said Habib Vohra, member of Zonal Railway Users Consultative Committee-Western Railway, Surat. (ANI)