Ahmedabad: Over 100 diamond polishers lose jobs as company shuts, owner goes missing

On Saturday afternoon, the diamond polishers working with Methili diamonds firm, a cutting and polishing unit at Gotalawadi area in Katargam Surat, went to the office of the Surat Diamond Workers’ Association in Varachha and complained about Dhameliya having shut down the factory. They told the association that the owner had gone underground without paying them last month’s as well as the current month’s salaries.

President of the association Jaysukh Gajera used his local contacts to confirm that Dhameliya had indeed gone underground. “We have also called his mobile phone but it was switched off. We also checked his house and found it locked,” said Gajera. “He has also sent his family members to their native place in Bhavnagar district.”

Tushar Patel, one of the workers in Methili diamonds, said he had been with the firm for the past three years, “My monthly salary is Rs 17,000, depending on the work. We have come to know that the firm owner had spoken to our factory manager and told him that he was going out to collect pending dues from various people and that the factory should remain shut until he returns.”

Patel said they were facing a crisis with no money to pay for monthly expenses. “We are staying in a rented house and have to pay rent every month. The new academic year will also start next month,” said Patel, worried how he would pay his children’s fees. “We have not got salary for March as well as 22 days of this month. How will we survive?”

Gajera took the diamond polishers to the Surat Diamond Association office at Varachha and sought their help to sort out the issue.

Surat diamond Association president Babubhai Gujarati said they were trying their best to contact firm owner Dhameliya, “We are trying our level best to contact him to know what went wrong,” Gujarati said. “We will call him to our office once he is contacted, and will try to sort out the salary issue.”