A pall of gloom seems to have descended over the 3,500-odd textile mill workers of Gokak Assembly constituency, who have been on a strike since March 8, alleging harassment by the mill authorities, and the deadlock seems nowhere near being over.
No substantial initiatives have reportedly been taken up by either the mill’s management or the district administration to resolve the issue so far.
While the mill workers have been alleging harassment and demanding the the revocation of suspension of 16 workers, the mill’s management is sticking to its decision. On March 17, the management finally locked the mill.
Even as the district administration is unable to arrive at any amicable solution to this problem, the workers, in all their confusion over finding the right person to lead them to justice, shifted their support from Gokak MLA Ramesh Jarkiholi, who was the sole union leader, to Bhimashi Jarkiholi, after the former failed to make any headway in this aspect. This development soon took over a political colour, owing to the fact that Bhimashi is MLA Ramesh Jarkiholi’s political rival in Gokak constituency. By now, the workers have already lost one month’s salary, and are getting increasingly agitated over it.
Until now, four conciliation meetings of mill management and both union leaders had been called by the deputy labour commissioner of Belagavi on different dates. However, on all the dates, both the management and MLA Ramesh Jarkiholi remained missing.
Recently, DC N Jayaram assured of a speedy resolution to the crisis. He had scheduled a meeting with the district in-charge minister Satish Jarkiholi, both union leaders and mills management, for April 11. But it had to be postponed at the last moment.
Now, the mills management, who had so far remained elusive, has now sought a conciliation meeting on April 18 from the labour department. The mill officials have, however, urged the department not to hold the meeting in Belgavi, fearing for their lives. They have, instead, asked the department to consider holding the meeting in Bengaluru. The mills management had, in a letter sent to the deputy labour commissioner, stated that senior officials of the mills are receiving threat calls. By now, most of the officials have already shifted to Bengaluru.
