M A I N   N E W S

Downturn Woes
A Tribune Exclusive
Gone: 50 per cent jobs in three months
Sanjeev Singh Bariana
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, January 12
On a cold Monday morning, a shivering Ram Bharose was waiting for 5210 Dn Jan Seva Express on the railway platform No. 1. He, along with his family, was travelling back home after six years to Purulia in West Bengal because he has been laid off by the management of Shiv Hari Iron Works situated on the GT Road. The train arrived and he scrambled to get his feet on the train. He extended his hand and dragged his wife off the platform in the coach, bursting at its seams.

The story of Ram Bharose is not an isolated instance. Trains travelling across the country, particularly to Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and other areas, are carrying hundreds of workers rendered jobless in the wake of global meltdown.

More than 50 per cent of labour in the local small and medium scale industrial units has been laid off during the past three months. Despite no official figures, the “massive” cut in the workforce is admitted by labourers as well as the owners of small-scale and medium industries. The rapidly changing, but “disturbing” scenario is seconded even by the owners of large-scale industrial units.

Fitex Industries, a 100 per cent export oriented fabrication unit, last week laid off 50 workers out of its total 300. By the next week, at least 100 more will be out of job. Confirming the development, Sheetal Gupta, managing director of the company, said: “There are no fresh work orders. Even, earlier orders are being cancelled”. “There are around 12 more affected units relating to hosiery, fabrication, iron works and dyeing, besides others.”

Haridas Beta, a migrant from Samastipur district in Bihar, said: “I am not working for more than 15 hours in a week for the past more than a month, even after changing jobs. I am left with no option but to return home”. Ramesh Kumar from Dantewara district in Chhattisgarh said: “From the past one month, I have not had a single regular shift of eight hours”.

A large number of small-scale units are on the verge of closure. Big names, including Vardhman and Oswal industries, have till now not had any layoffs.

However, sources reveal that the workers in the daily-wage category, even in big units, sometimes go without work. Kamal Oswal, chairman of Nahar Group of Industries, said: “We are managing the affairs somehow. We are, however, not living in isolation and will have to face the reality unless something magical happens”.

VK Goyal, chief executive, Vardhman Spinning and General Mills, said: “In the immediate context, we have been forced to decide on no more recruitment and there are no replacements for those who quit”. Rakesh Bharti Mittal, vice-chairman and managing director, Bharti Enterprises, said: “India cannot remain isolated and we should be prepared for the worst. It is, however, important to remember that our economy is among the most resilient ones”.

Harish Khanna, president of the Small Scale Industries Association, said: “This is the worst winter for the industry, particularly hosiery, we have seen since 1970. The hosiery work has stopped and a majority of units are working partially. The situation is getting close to one we face during the times of farmer suicides”.

Nageshwar Singh, district president of the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, said: “Industrialists are giving advertisements in newspapers asking labourer to get 20 more members in their team and get a free mobile phone or other gifts”.