The workers of NTC mills, which are set to be resurrected today, are skeptical about their future
The workers of NTC mills, which are set to be resurrected today, are skeptical about their future
The resurrection of India United Mill number 5, Poddar Mills and the TATA Mills by the National Textile Corporation in Mumbai today might seem like a ray of hope for all those mill workers who lost their jobs, but for those working there, life remains the same. The fear of losing their jobs still remains.
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Future tense: Shivaji Kale with his wife and two sons at his Parel home, yesterday |
The one-room house of Shivaji Kale (52), a mill worker with TATA Mills, Parel, is home to him, his wife Mangal and their two sons Sunil and Sudhir. Kale has been working with the mill for the past 32 years and has six years to go until retirement. However, Kale is unsure whether he would work with the new modernised mill until then.
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Increase pay
Kale feels that the modernisation of the mill will be of no great help unless the pay is increased. "There are contract employees who are being paid a paltry Rs 160 per day. If the salary is hiked, then the possibility of the mill to work for a few more years is there," rued Kale.
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Kale has worked at the Tata Mills for the last 32 years. Pic/Varun Singh |
Another mill worker was more hopeful, saying, "With the modernisation, I think the management and the government won't let the mill shut at least for the next 10 years. There are people who want to work and mills are their life."
Union Minister of Textiles Dayanidhi Maran, CM Ashok Chavan and Aviation Minister Praful Patel will be inaugurating the mills today.
| Did you know? |
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NTC has closed 19 out of 25 mills and paid about Rs 12 lakh to each worker. |
| Rs 150 crore |
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The amount spent on modernisation. |
| 14 mn |
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The tonnes of cloth that will be produced annually. |
