Accompanied by an entourage of senior bureaucrats, Joshi held tripartite talks with the management and the recognised union, Rashtriya Mill Mazdoor Sangh (RMMS) on ways to pull the mill back on its feet.

Joshi sought assurances from the management that the mill wouldn't be closed down. Addressing workers later, he assured that the state government would take a decision on the scheme for land sale within 15 days, provided that it fitted into the government's and municipal authority's development rules. He cautioned that resources generated from the sale of land should be used for modernisation of the mill.

Svadeshi Mills, which has been mounting losses to the tune of Rs one crore a month, has already beenregistered with the Board for Financial and Industrial Reconstruction (BIFR). It had been embroiled in a controversy over its land deal with Surela Investments, a company appointed as a developer by the mill management. One part of the money which was paid by Surela Investments, when the deal was finalised in 1994, was doubted to have been used to buy machinery which was of no use to the mill.