Week after labour unrest, Surat textile industry agrees to workers’ key demands to ‘ensure peace & productivity’

In the meeting led by Assistant Commissioner of Police Parth Chovatiya, police officers tried to convince the industries to concede to their demands so that production is not hampered and there were no law and order issues.

Those textile embroidery units that participated were from Ambrotech industrial estate, Sai Ambro, Vedant Eco park 1 and 2, Anajani estates and others.

A labour department official, who did not wish to be named, told this newspaper, “After the meeting, we realised that finding no platform to air their grievances, they resorted to social media to convey the message to the unit owners.

Earlier, these labourers used to stick pamphlets on the walls outside the factories at public places and urge the labourers to comply with their demands. In the present case, the majority of the demands were met. The labourers were satisfied with the outcome of the meeting with us and the police. We have asked labourers to contact us if they face any problems and requested them not to take law and order into their hands.”

“We are ready to make a compromise with the labourers and act on their demands. We have carried out a meeting with the textile factory owners on this issue late on Friday night, and all were in support of keeping the factories running, as there is good demand for orders which are pending, and we have to deliver the finished fabric on time.”

Dineshbhai Singara from Ambrotech estate told The Indian Express.

He further added, “Workers get a day off when there is a maintenance shut down one day in the week. We will negotiate with the workers to pay for working on their off days. Apart from this, we have also agreed to give the salary in the first week of every month. We used to give Diwali bonuses to all workers, and this year we will also give them, but the amount should be negotiated. The eight-hour shift is not possible, they will have to work for 12 hours. Hopefully they will agree on this point.”

Krishna Yadav (27), a resident of Amroli who works in an embroidery factory at Vedant Eco-park 2 and hails from Biihar, said, “We resumed our duties on August 18 and our factory owner is also happy, as he is also worried about delivering goods on time to other parties. We were also part of the protest. The factory owner had told us that he was ready to give a week off with salary, not on Sunday but on another day, to which we agreed. But we are satisfied that the majority of our demands are met.”

On August 16, trouble started at two embroidery units in the Vedant Eco Park -2 in Amroli owned by Vishal Goti where at least 500 labourers came out on the streets forcibly shutting down power supply in the automated textile embroidery factories. The next day, trouble also began in Sachin textile estates but the police were called early and they began patrolling the area.

Goti filed a complaint against a group of around 200 people who came to his factory and forcefully shut down and threatened his workers to join the protest.

According to the FIR, over 300 such factories were forcibly shut by the labourers in Amroli area. Based on Goti’s complaint, the Amroli police registered an offence against 500 workers under BNS 189 (2)(unlawful assembly), 190 (states that every member of an unlawful assembly is guilty of any offense committed by any member of that group in prosecution of their common object), 191 (2) (Punishment for simple rioting), 122 (2) (voluntarily causing hurt upon receiving grave and sudden provocation), 329 (4) (house trespass), 296 (b) (crime to sing, recite, or say any obscene songs, poems, or words in or near a public place), 351 (2) (simple criminal intimidation), and 61 (2) (criminal conspiracy).

Crime Branch officer Amitkumar Dubey who was injured in the stone pelting also lodged a complaint based on which an FIR was registered against a mob of 500 labourers at Amroli police station on August 17. These labourers were booked under BNS 189 (2) (unlawful assembly), 190 (every person in an unlawful assembly is guilty of any crime committed by the group), 191 (2) (Punishment for simple rioting), 122 (2) (voluntarily causing hurt upon receiving grave and sudden provocation), 121(2) (voluntarily causing hurt or grievous hurt to a public servant to deter them from discharging their lawful duty).

The third FIR was based on a complaint by Amroli police constable Ravirajsinh Harisinh against an Instagram id user, at the Amroli police station on August 17. He alleged that the Instagram user had in a social media post, used “abusive language on police and incited labourers.

Amroli police inspector J B Vanar said, “In these three offences, we have arrested eight accused. We are also looking for others. After the offence and arrest procedures were completed, no other untoward incidents occurred. The industries are currently operating at full strength. Our police teams are patrolling in different industrial pockets, and also at some sensitive areas we have deployed police staff to maintain law and order.

We have also told the textile factory owners that if they come across any threats or people gathering with an intention to shut down the factories, they should call Amroli police so that proper, timely action can be taken and law and order can be maintained.”