Surat: Seemanchal Sahu came to Surat when he was 15 years old. He followed his cousins, who had been working the power looms of the city for years. Now 35, he has made Surat’s Ved Road his second home. Over the years, he trained himself to operate the power looms, working 12 hours a day. There are no weekly offs for him, except for the time around Diwali when his factory shuts shop for around a month.
“That is the time we plan our trip to Berhampur,” says Sahu, who had immigrated to Gujarat’s Surat from Odisha in 2002.
“Leaving home for work was more of a necessity than a choice. Almost every boy who was old enough to work in our village came to Surat,” he says.
Sahu goes on to explain how at least one male member from each family in his village comes to Surat to support their families. “One of my brothers works in our farm (less than an acre), another works as a daily labourer, and I came to Surat. That is how all families diversify their work among brothers,” Sahu says.
In his initial days when he was still learning the tricks of loom work, Sahu lost one of his eyes in a freak accident when a sharply pointed shutter that is used to house the raw thread in a loom came off. But he continued to stay in Surat. “Going back wasn’t an option,” he says.
Now, he earns anywhere between Rs 25,000 and Rs 30,000 in a month, depending on how much cloth he weaves every day. All loom workers are paid on a piece-rate basis. In a 12-hour shift, one worker handles around five or six looms and produces an average of 30 metres of grey or unprocessed fabric.
Seemanchal Sahu. Photo: Ajoy Ashirwad Mahaprashasta
The workers’ yearning to send a majority of their savings to their villages has spawned a system of hostels in localities where the weaving industry is concentrated, namely Varacchha, Katargam and Udhana Limbayat.
You can spot a hostel easily. Dark stairwells lead up to dingy halls without windows. Only one corner of the hall is lit with dim bulbs as they double up as a kitchen for 40-odd workers who share a single mess. The remaining area is the space to sleep, where the lights are always off. Outside, there are at best two toilets for all of them to use. The tap water in the bathrooms also doubles up as drinking water.
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Sahu shows around his mess one afternoon. A few workers who work nights were sleeping, which is why the lights remain off even during the day. “Each of us takes a portion of the hall to make our temporary beds on the ground. The looms never stop. When night shift workers go to factories, we take their places to sleep. And when we leave for work, that is their time to sleep,” Sahu explains.
Inside a workers’ hostel. Photo: Ajoy Ashirwad Mahaprashasta
The mess rent is anywhere between Rs 2,500 and Rs 3,000 per month, including food. The hostels are also mostly run by migrants from Odisha. Most workers try to save as much as possible, even if that requires living in inhuman conditions.
Almost 70% of loom workers in the city are immigrants from Odisha, estimated to be around eight lakh people. Like Sahu, a majority of them are single male immigrants living in Surat for decades.
As political parties are fighting it out to secure a majority in the Gujarat upcoming assembly elections, the power loom workers, one of the largest segments of Surat residents, have found none appealing to them. They first started migrating from districts like Ganjam, Berhampur, Balasore and Puri in the 1970s and have continued to come in hordes to eke out a living in the textile capital of India. Despite having made Surat their second home for decades, they continue to live in the most abysmal conditions possible. A majority of them do not have voting rights in Surat, and as a result remain outside the purview of political parties in the fray.
The migrant workforce in Surat is in fact over 60%, making them the single-largest block in the city’s population. The section includes people who work in the textile and diamond industries that Surat is famous for. Yet, nothing comes easy for them as without voting rights, they are solely dependent on either their employers or the government’s mercy.
According to Sharad Zagade of Aajeevika Bureau which provides legal aid to these workers and has formed a workers’ union, “Surat produces over 60% of India’s textiles, especially nylon and synthetic fabrics. There are power looms all over Surat. But as far as safety standards are concerned, there are none.”
The kitchen area in a workers’ hostel. Photo: Ajoy Ashirwad Mahaprashasta
A single power loom unit houses anywhere between 50 and 1,000 machines. Most of these units require a specific degree of heat for the looms to function properly. As a result, most units lack ceiling fans, forcing the workers to tire through the work day without proper ventilation or circulation. “In most units, the owners do not even provide drinking water to the workers,” says Shiva Mallik of Aajeevika Bureau. Mallick, also from Berhampur, has been working in Surat for over a year now, and is aghast at the working conditions of his fellow Odias.
“Many die of electric shock as there are no safety mechanisms. Many also get injured. There are no benefits for a loom worker – no health insurance, no provident fund, no gratuity, no bonus, nor any occupation hazard relief. Except for a few which are owned by benevolent people, most weaving units are dens of exploitation. The constant noise of looms has turned many workers deaf. In contrast, workers in the diamond industry get much more social security benefits,” says Mallik.
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Zagade explains that although most weaving units are big enough to fall under the purview of the Factory Act that ensures social security for workers, most owners have found a clever way to bypass it. “Even if a big unit functions in a single building, it is registered as different units owned by multiple owners. These owners are of course members of the same family. That way, the owner ensures that the unit falls under the requirements of the Gujarat Shops and Establishment Act, 2019, and hence part of the unorganised sector. The norms of the Factory Act are thus avoided.”
As part of its welfare programme, the Surat Municipal Corporation has introduced Odia language as a subject in some schools but those are too few to be even noticed. In such a scenario, the RSS-run Saraswati Shishu Mandirs have been reaching out to the migrant population and have admitted children from migrant families.
Owners of the units, however, say that their business has been too volatile to extend any greater benefits to workers. Over the last few years, the textile industry of Surat has taken a massive hit. Some suggest that there may be a profit drop of nearly 50% compared to a decade ago.
Lanes leading up to hostels and powerloom units on Ved Road. Photo: Ajoy Ashirwad Mahaprashasta
Ashok Jeerawala, the president of the Federation of Gujarat Weaver’s Welfare Association who was busy as the Bharatiya Janata Party in-charge of three assembly constituencies, confirms such a trend. Jeerawala says that the association’s primary demand with the Union government has been to give a 30% Technology Upgradation Fund (TUF) subsidy. “During the UPA government, we received a 30% TUF subsidy, but that was brought down to 10% in recent times. We want the 30% subsidy to be restored. Our units come under medium and small scale industries (MSME). If we want to compete with China, we need to upgrade our technology. The government has to support us for that,” he says.
Jeerawala was a former Congress leader but joined the BJP a year ago. He says that the BJP-led Gujarat government has improved power supply, the most essential ingredient for looms, to the textile industry and needs to be re-elected.
When asked about the poor living conditions of workers, and that both the state and Union government have been ignoring their plight, he has a straightforward response. “Workers earn well compared to what they could have in their home states. Their cost of living is merely Rs 3,000; they save the rest of their earnings. We are the ones who take most risks. They will benefit only if the textile industry grows.”
