Ginning mill workers lack basic amenities

Adilabad: Workers in ginning mills, mostly migrant labourers, are working 12 hours a day, 18 hours in some mills, for a paltry sum of Rs 170 a day for a male unskilled labourer and 120 a day for the female.

The mill managements are exploiting them at every step violating the rules. As a result, they draw no overtime allowance, no holidays and no schools for their wards and no suitable quarters for them to live.

Most of the workers are migrant labourers from Maharashtra and Odisha.

There are about 125 ginning mills in Adilabad, Mancherial, Asifabad and Nirmal districts each employing a workforce of 50 to 100 each.

The total number of workers employed in them is 8000. According to trade union leader Vilas, the managements are not hesitating to remove them from the companies’ rolls if workers question the management on the additional work burden

According to a worker Hemaji, the rules specify that workers should be paid Rs 351 per day which amounts to Rs 10,530 a month. But the wages paid to workers never crossed Rs 5000 at any rate.

Similarly, salaries of manager, accountant and cashier should be at least Rs 10,000 a month. However, their wages did not cross Rs 7000 in ginning mills.

If unskilled labourer’s services were to be engaged additionally, they need to be paid double the wages as overtime allowance. The wages are paid irregularly once in two or three months causing hardships to workers.

Moreover, there is no provident fund facility to the workers. In case of industrial accidents, the workers are denied compensation, the managements are washing off their hands by paying them Rs 5000 or Rs 1000.

When contacted, ginning mills’ association president Raj Chintavar denied exploitation of workers by the mill managements.
Apart from these irregularities, the managements are not providing proper accommodation to the workers.

The managements are obliged to provide residential quarters to the workers near the work place. The houses provided in Adilabad, Bhainsa and Asifabad are worse than toilets.

The mills should provide baby-sitting services to take care of the young of the mill workers and are required to establish a school for education of workers’ children.

A woman worker Rukma Bai said the children were staying at home in the absence of such facilities.
The workers have been appealing to authorities to provide basic amenities to them.

Speaking to The Hans India, Jagadeeshwar Reddy of the labour department said that the department would take the measures only when the government ordered it to take the steps.