Sexual harassment rampant in ginning mills

Ahmedabad, Apr 1: Kadi town in Mehsana district which locates the largest number of ginning units (125) in Gujarat has reported a large number of labour law violations as well as sexual exploitation cases of female migrant labours.

Talking to UNI, Secretary of the Gujarat Ginning and Mill Mazdoor Union of Kadi Ms Veena Parmar claimed that the millers at Kadi are also paying low wage, providng unsafe working condition, unhygienic living conditions, taking work from child labour and also violating human rights with accident rates recorded very high in Saurashtra ginning mills during last two years.

''Workers are paid Rs 60-70 for a 12-hour shift in the mill. The average minimum wage on the other hand in the state is Rs 94 for an eight hour shift. Thus, the workers are paid almost one third of the stipulated minimum wages,'' she said.

The unloading work is done at piece rate which is as low as paise 45 paise per quintal. This rate varies from factory to factory. The loaders have to be on duty 24 hours a day, she said.

Workers have to operate under extremely unsafe conditions.

Inhaling of cotton fibres leads to the serious disease of Byssinosis. Therefore, the use of respirators is recommended.

''However, no factory has provided any mask to workers. The duration of working shift in all the mills is 12 hours. This is a recipe for fatal accidents keeping in mind the profile of the workforce,'' Ms Parmar said.

Talking about the livng condition of workers, she said, ''The migrant workers live within the premises of the factory. The local workers commute from the villages around. The living conditions are highly unhygienic. There are almost 15-20 workers cramped in small rooms of 100 sq ft. There are no toilet facilities in most of the ginning factories. All the workers share a single water tap that is in the open with no privacy for female workers. The extremely crowded living quarters, lack of hygiene, and inhaling of cotton dust leads to a very high morbidity rate.''

Ms Parmar also narrated that female workforce in ginning mills are also target of sexual exploitation as ''Our union has come across two cases of sexual exploitation of female workers by the employers and the agents of ginning mills.'' ''In one case, Pramila Vadi, a tribal girl from Dungarpur district in Rajasthan was working in Neminath cotton ginning mill in Muli taluka of Surendranagar district was repeatedly molested by her factory manager. He made an attempt to rape her one night, following which Pramila had to run away from the factory. She had to sell her nose ring to be able to reach back home safely,'' she said.

UNI