Parl panel in city to study working condition of women workers

Surat: A 10-member parliamentary committee on empowerment of women visited in the city on Wednesday as part of the study tour to understand the working condition women in textile, diamonds and cooperative societies.
The women parliamentarians under the chairmanship of Bijoya Chakravarty, the BJP MP from Guwahati, visited the integrated textile mill in Pandesara that employs nearly 500 women workers. The MPs from various political parties interacted with the women workers regarding the working condition, safety, minimum wages, child labour abuse, sexual harassment and other issues.

Owner of Laxmipati group, Sanjay Sarawgi told TOI, “There are thousands of women who are directly and indirectly employed in the textile sector. Majority of these women work in the embroidery sector where they stitch diamonds and colourful tikkis on the saris and dress material.” “I raised a concern before the committee that the provision of filing ITC-04 return under GST is preventing the integrated players as well as the textile traders to outsource value-addition work on the fabrics. If we outsource, we have to file ITC-04 return, which many don’t want. Thus, the employment opportunity for women in this sector has decreased in the last one year,” said Sarawgi.

President of South Gujarat Productivity Council (SGPC), Asha Dave said, “A detailed presentation on women workers in textile industry was given to the panel members. We have sought support of the central government for formulating a special policy for women workers in textile sector and provide a dedicated textile market run and operated by women in the city”

Sources in the textile commissioner’s office said that the committee members also visited the Surat Milk Cooperative Union Limited (SUMUL) and the Dharmanandan Exports to understand the condition of the women workers. A detailed report will be submitted in the Parliament for further actions to be taken by the centre.