Dangi workers may stir

SURAT, OCT 18: Almost two thousand tribal labourers in the Dangs district of South Gujarat have threatened to launch an agitation against...

SURAT, OCT 18: Almost two thousand tribal labourers in the Dangs district of South Gujarat have threatened to launch an agitation against the 8220;low wages8221; paid by the Songadh-based Central Pulp Mills. The labourers, who worked as bamboo-cutters from October to May, will resort to a stir if their demands are not met within 10 days, Dangi Mazdoor Union DMU secretary Bharat M Pawar said in a statement issed here on Monday.

Copies of the statement have been sent to Valsad8217;s assistant labour commissioner and the mill management.

Among the major demands raised by DMU is a wage increase in per tonne of bamboo cut, disbursement of 8.33 per cent bonus for the year 1998-99, increase in Mukardam8217;s labour contractor wages, assurance that only Dangis are made Mukardams and implementation of minimum wage for all labourers. The DMU is also demanding that labourers be paid Rs 600 per tonne for cutting dry bamboo and Rs 370 per tonne for green bamboo.

The Central Pulp Mill is taking the uneducated and naive Dang labourers, Pawar said, adding that 8220;Dangi labourers are being denied minimum wages.8221; The secretary pointed out that the labourers, who are forced to migrate to Songadh due to lack of industrialisation in the Dangs, were being ruthlessly exploited.

The DMU had received many complaints from labourers alleging exploitation by the mill management, Pawar said. The number of complaints have increased in recent past, he added.

Taking a dig at the administration, Pawar alleged that all labour laws look 8220;extremely good on papers8221; but none of them were being implemented by the management. 8220;The labour officials are hand-in-glove with the management. The government officials are, in fact, protecting the management,8221; the secretary charged.

The DMU secretary said the politicians have also let down the Dangs labourers over the years. 8220;Everyone promises the earth for the tribals in five-minute speeches, but nothing ever materialises.8221;

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Despite the high rate of mishaps in bamboo cutting, the injured labourers often do not even receive compensation, Pawar said. The poor tribals are also done in by the crafty management, who resort to gross 8220;malpractices8221; in weighing the volume of bamboo cut by each labourer and depriving him of right wages, he added.

Despite drawing a net profit of Rs 4.24 crore in the fiscal year 1998-99, the management has refused to pass on any of it to the workers, who are the major force in the upward swing of the fiscal graph, Pawar alleged.