Several lakhs of migratory workers in Tamil Nadu’s textile and apparel industry can heave a sigh of relief!
The efforts of Tamil Nadu Textile and Common Labour Union (TTCU) seem to be heading towards a positive direction.
With Coimbatore, Tirupur, Erode, Salem and Dindigul, Tamil Nadu is one of the leading Indian states for textile and apparel production.
Dindigul-based TTCU, which claims to have more than 8,029 adolescent and women textile and garment labourers as its members, has seen a 30 per cent increase in the number of migrant labours working in the state, exclusively in the textile and apparel sector.
That’s a huge jump! So it’s the need of the hour to regulate as per the norms of the act.
In 2017, S. James Victor, Advisor, TTCU, had filed a writ petition no (MD) 13918/2017 to implement the orders passed by the High Court in W.P. (HCP) NO.530/2017 and 533/2017.
And now, based on the passed order, S. Thivya Rakini, President, TTCU has filed a writ petition at the Madurai High Court W.P. to implement the same throughout the state.
Justice D.S. Sivagnanam and Justice R. Dharani have summoned notice to the district administration to submit the document and report in this regard. The court also issued a notice to the State Government to form an exclusive committee throughout the districts of the state to monitor the migrant labourers.
S. Thivya Rakinisaid “As far as migratory workers are concerned, there are many critical issues in Tamil Nadu. It includes the proper verification of migratory workers and payingthem as per the law of the land. Textile Mills management must give strict adherence to the interstate migration Act and its rules. The migratory person must possess a licence issued by the competent authority of Home state permitting him/her to work at host states. It will ensure their safety and they will receive their proper salary and allowances.”
It is pertinent to mention here that court in the state had already issued strong instructions in this regard, but things have not improved so far.
As per an official survey of 2016, there are around 1.40 lakh migratory workers in the State’s textile industry.
