Khatau mill owner, workers plan meet

March 29: The Khatau Kamgar Ekta Samiti has arranged a general meeting of all Khatau workers on March 31 at 7.30 am at the mills premises at Byculla. The meeting which is to be attended by the Labour Minister Sabir Sheikh as well as the mill owner Panna Khatau is expected to go a step further in opening the deadlock over the mill.

The Khatau mill workers have been suffering a lock-out since April 1997. In spite a Bombay High Court order on a petition filed by the Girni Kamgar Sangh directing the company management to pay the workers their dues, the 5700 workers have not been paid yet.

Workers who retired from the mill earlier have not had their gratuity dues remitted to them, said a member of the Ekta committee.

According to the committee member, the recalcitrant attitude of many of the union leaders as well as the management has led to the present cul de sac where many workers have died of penury and several workers face serious financial difficulties.