SDWA president Babu Jirawala convened a meeting with members and body of the association and put forth the proposal of dissolving the association, which had fought for the issues of the diamond polishers in the past. The meeting was conducted at SDWA office in Varachha on Tuesday evening.

The SDWA was formed by Jirawala in 1991 to fight for the issues of diamond polishers. The association took charge over the issue of wage hike, when lakhs of diamond workers came out and pelted stones at the diamond factories in Varachha and Kapodara. The issue was later solved after Jirawala and SDWA members intervened in the matter and finally convinced the unit owners to increase the wages by 20 per cent. The association also played an important role recently, during the global financial crisis.

However, hundreds of diamond polishers gathered outside Jirawala’s house in Varachha a few days ago and chanted slogans against him. The angry diamond polishers alleged that SDWA had failed in convincing the government to declare relief packages for them.

After this incident, Jirawala called a meeting and put a proposal of dissolving the association. Jirawala said: “We had formed the association and we are dissolving it now. We are unhappy that some people, who are against us, led a mob of diamond polishers. We are satisfied with the work we have done for the diamond polishers and that too without charging a single penny from them. During the meeting between 11 body members, I made a proposal to dissolve the association. I also insisted that if anybody is interested to continue the association, he can do so, but all of them are convinced with my decision.”

Diamond workers end hunger strike
The 51-hour hunger strike started by the Gujarat Vikas Samiti to highlight the financial woes of the diamond workers, ended on Tuesday afternoon. No politicians or government representatives turned up to meet the fasting workers.

Meanwhile, the Congress Seva Dal members declared a compensation of Rs 5,000 each to the family members of those diamond polishers who had committed suicide. The newly-formed Gujarat Vikas Samiti came to light after all other associations and representatives failed to convince the Central as well as state governments for relief packages for the diamond polishers. Majority of the Samiti members are engaged in the diamond industry. The main objective of the Samiti is to fight for the rights of the polishers.

The Samiti members, along with diamond polishers, began the stir on Sunday and continued it for 51 hours till Tuesday afternoon. Their main demand was the procurement of relief packages for the diamond workers. Lakhs of diamond polishers from different areas visited the Gujarat Vikas Samiti in the last three days to express solidarity with the agitation.