Worn down and out

The landmark seizure of the Mardia Chemicals8217; plant in the industrial town of Vatva by a consortium of lenders means little to Devidas Parate. The banks fought Rasiklal Mardia long and hard and won. But people like Parate lost the will to fight a long time ago. Ask him about the diwali of 1997 and you will know why. 8216;8216;Sheth told us to celebrate kali black diwali that year,8217;8217; Parate says of Mardia. The Gujarat High Court is still hearing a petition filed by the Mardias challenging a single judge8217;s order that declared the lockout illegal. Parate was among 270 workers out of jobs when one day in 1997 they found their company8217;s door shut in their face. It was the culmination of a tussle between them and the management of Mardia Chemicals over the non-payment of wages and bonus. It ended in a lockout in February 1997.

For three years after that, Parate survived on odd jobs, his confidence slowly falling to pieces. Worse, his elder son Vinod had to drop out of school to keep the home fires burning. Both father and son work as lowly helpers today. Laxman Patanwadia, who runs the Karl Marx General Union at Vatva, tried to keep up the morale of his comrades. But they couldn8217;t cope with the Mardia8217;s capacity for endless litigation.

Many got other jobs in Vatva, but there are some like Abhesinh Rathod, a fitter who lost his job when an accident claimed his leg. 8216;8216;I can8217;t do anything now, I barely make ends meet,8217;8217; he says quietly. He made several rounds of the labour court to claim compensation. Then, he gave up.