Reopen NTC mills, workers renew demand ahead of BMC polls

(From left) RMMS treasurer Nivrutti Desai, general secretary Govindrao Mohite and vice-president Sunil Borkar at a press conference on Monday. Pic/Suresh Karkera

In the wake of civic elections looming large, the Rashtriya Mill Mazdoor Sangh (RMMS) has said there would be protests in the city and parts of the state if their demand to reopen National Textile Corporation (NTC) mills is not met and other issues are not resolved.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation elections are scheduled early this year but the dates have not been officially announced yet. The reopening of mills, shut since May 2020, remains a key election issue and the Central and state governments are yet to take a call on this.

Meanwhile, RMMS clarified that due to a lack of positive response from the Central government, an all-India agitation will be held on January 27.

Despite the unlock process starting in June 2020, the NTC is yet to act and take steps to reopen the mills even as the Central and state governments permitted resumption of business activities.

Govindrao Mohite, general secretary of RMMS, said, "NTC, being a government undertaking, should not take so much time to reopen. We expect an immediate opening of mills across India. It is unfortunate that several mill workers are still waiting to get back to work. It is important to save NTC mills. A large-scale agitation was held over this in Jantar Mantar, New Delhi."

Five NTC mills - India United No. 5, Tata, Sitaram, Poddar and Digvijay and Barshi and Finlay Mills in Achalpur - were operational at full capacity in Maharashtra. The NTC has 25 mills across Maharashtra, Gujarat, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu.

As more than 25,000 NTC mill workers and their families are facing an uncertain future, the workers came together under a common umbrella at the national level and have gathered the support of trade unions such as INTUC, AITUC, CITU, DMK, CPI, Trinamool Congress and Akhil Bharatiya Kamgar Sena Mahasangh. Even the Congress, Shiv Sena and National Congress Party - part of the three-party coalition in the state - have pledged support.

"We only want to highlight the plight of these poor workers. Their employment and pending dues are in danger. Wherever there are NTC mills across India, those states' chief ministers have been asked by NTC to write to the prime minister to address this problem and find a solution at the earliest. Neither the Central or state governments are interested in finding a way to end the mill workers' problem. Mill workers from all over India had even written letters to the Union Textile Minister Piyush Goyal, but it hardly yielded anything," added Mohite.

Jan 27
Day when mill workers will hold agitations