Mill workers protest move to sell excess mill land

Mill workers protest move to sell excess mill land
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

MUMBAI, MARCH 31: To protest the government's decision to allow textile mills to sell excess land, mill workers will hold a dharna at Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh's official residence Varsha at 7 pm on April 4.

President of the Girni Kamgar Sangharsh Samiti, Gayatri Singh, said the government has taken this step because efforts to revive the mills have proved futile. ``The government has also said unions have agreed on the issue of VRS to workers. This is a blatant lie,'' she said. ``The government should frame a long-term policy for revival of textile mills. Giving mill owners permission to sell land is not the long-term solution,'' she added.

On the government's stand that the hi-tech industries set up on mill land may absord these workers, she said: ``More than 40,000 workers are employed in the mills. Most of them are uneducated. How can they be absorbed in hi-tech industries?''