Gruel centre opened in village for jobless hosiery workers

Coimbatore, Feb 8 (PTI): Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh has openeda gruel centre at a village in Tirupur district for nearly50,000 workers rendered jobless after closure of over 700dyeing and bleaching units units following a Madras High Courtorder to do so for continued effluents discharge into a river.

It was opened yesterday at Avaraipalayam village and riceporridge was distributed to workers and their families, BMSsources said.

They said setting up gruel centres is a concept to drawthe attention of authorities concerned to the plight of theworkers and that they would be put to hardship if a solutionwas not immediately found to the problems.

They said some affected workers are still in Tirupurexpecting the government to take some positive steps, whilemany others with their families had left for their nativevillages.

The Government should provide some alternative jobs to theworkers till the issue is decided either by the management orthe Government or both jointly, they said.

The electricity department has already snapped power supplyto 754 units and it would take a minimum of one month if allunits are to instal the zero discharge facility, after properverification by the monitoring committee, they said.

Till then it was the Government''s duty to take care of thewell being of workers and their families, they said.

On Jan 28, the Madras High Court had ordered immediateclosure of all bleaching and dyeing units in the hosiery hubof Tirupur for continued discharge of effluents into a riverin violation of its orders and that of the Supreme Court.