Textile mills offer daily wages to lure migrants

Surat: Yajuvendra Dubey, a textile mill worker hailing from Bihar, is among the few thousands of migrant workers who decided to stay back in Surat during the lockdown. After remaining unemployed for two-and-half months, Dubey, who lives in Udhna area with his wife and children, was faced with severe financial crisis.
So when the textile mills reopened, he joined one in Pandesara GIDC only on the condition that he be paid wages daily. His employer, who is also faced with severe shortage of skilled workers, has agreed to this demand.
“Whatever money I had, I spent it on arranging food for my family during the lockdown. When my seth (boss) called me to work, I told him to pay me daily so that I can take care of my family,” says Dubey, who works in the boiler department of a textile mill in Pandesara GIDC.
Similar is the case in over 40 textile mills located in Sachin and Pandesara GIDC areas, that have resumed operations post-lockdown. There are about 300 textile mills in the city.
This is a rare event when Surat textile processors switched to daily wage payment looking into the demand of workers who stayed back and are facing financial crunch.
“At the end of the day, I am paying Rs 1.30 lakh as wages to 125 workers. There was no need to restart the mill, but this is for the sake of our workers who have not gone back to their home districts in anticipation of getting employment once the industry starts,” says Jitendra Vakharia, chairman of Narayan Textile Processors.
According to industry estimate, out of its total 2 lakh workers, only 30,000 have decided to stay back in Surat.
Industry sources said that the textile mills that have resumed work are running at less than 30% capacity. Most of them are engaged in completing pending orders only without any fresh orders.
Pramod Chaudhary, managing director of Pratibha industries told TOI, “Workers are the backbone of our industry and in the times of crisis, we are paying them wages daily. We are not only paying them wages daily, but also giving them ration kits.”
Another textile mill owner in Sachin GIDC, Binay Agarwal told TOI, “Till all our workers don’t return, we will have to pay daily wages to the workers who have stayed back. It is a huge financial burden for us, but at the same time we want to support them in crisis and not lose them.”