Skip to main content

84 fatal accidents, 114 deaths in three years in textile units in Surat, Gujarat: Study supported by German inst

By Rajiv Shah
While a lot is known about fatal accidents caused in Gujarat’s premier shipbreaking yard at Alang because of lack of occupational safety, a yet-to-be-published study “Labour Conditions in Surat Textile Industry", supported by Bonn-based Südwind Institute for Economics and Ecumenism, is all set to create a flutter. It has estimated that, in the last three years, 84 fatal accidents have been reported in registered textile processing units in Surat, in which 114 workers died.
Based on a Right to Information (RTI) replies to a query filed in 2016, the data supplied by the Directorate Industrial Safety and Health, Gujarat, further suggest that as many as 375 workers were seriously injured in accidents in these units.
Authored by Jagdish Patel of the People’s Training and Research Centre (PTRC), a Vadodara-based advocacy group focused on occupational health, the study says these data do no provide a complete picture as “a large number of units are not registered.”
A scan through the newspaper clippings by PTRC also suggested that “121 workers died and 126 injured in the textile industry in Surat during 2012-15”, the study says. “Most news of injury at work does not reach the newspapers and people at large” since a large number of units “are not registered”, it adds.
Suggesting that there appears to be little awareness about the need to fight the such high accidents, which have continued over the years, and yet the officialdom has remained indifferent, the study says that during 1991-95 as many as 100 fatal accidents took place in Surat. Then, in 2007 and 2008, the study adds, 46 and 36 accidents respectively were reported in Surat.
“These figures speak of the occupational health and safety situation in the textile factories in Surat”, the study says. An analysis of the reasons behind the accidents by it suggests that between 2012 and 2015, of the 121 fatal accidents, 30 took place because of burns, followed by electrocution (27), and what has been called “crushed between two surfaces” (23).
Other reasons for deaths reported include asphyxiation, fall from height, fire and explosion, mechanical injury, gassed, and so on. Giving the example of how these accidents become fatal because of the very nature of the factories, the study quotes the instance of a power loom unit on Ashvini Kumar Road in Surat located in Suryapur Industrial Estate caught fire on October 3, 2015 at 11:45 am.
During the accident except one worker on the second floor -- Nila Nayaka (45) and a male worker -- Krishna Limja (65) on the third floor, all the others could come out safely. The fire brigade rescued the two, but the woman died of asphyxiation.
The study explains, “The fire started on the second floor and spread to the third floor. Machines had been arranged without leaving much distance between two machines and this congested the walkways. Raw material and finished products were also stored on walkways. There were 20 workers in the unit. Workers on the ground floor could get out but workers on the second and third floors were trapped.”
Pointing out that in most cases those who die or are injured are not adequately compensated, the study quotes the instance of one Ajay Raju Yadav, 18, who met with an accident at work in June 2011. Yadav was employed in an embroidery unit. His left hand got entangled in the nip of the roll of the press machine while charging the machine with ladies dress material. Three of his fingers got amputated and the fourth is almost dead.
“A medical expert assessed his disability to be 47%. He was not compensated. The unit was covered under the Employees’ State Insurance (ESI) Act but the particular worker was not issued identity card under the Act”, the study says.
It was only after a long drawn out battle, carried out by a textile workers’ association, a local court passed an order in May 2013 to pay Rs.2,88,685 towards compensation with interest at the rate of 9% (Rs 86,605) as penalty, and Rs1,000 as cost of the claim. This made the employer to fire the worker. A hearing on the the case continues till date.

Comments

Uma said…
Frankly, the fact that the workers are not protected does not surprise me. I have seen men and women working on building and road construction sites without any protection. Stories of civic workers contracting fatal diseases or dying while working in the gutters abound. Every time there is a hue and cry for a while (with politicians in opposition crying loudest) and then everything dies down.

What surprises me is that this is happening in Modi's Gujarat. What was he doing while he was CM?

TRENDING

Junk food push causing severe public health crisis of obesity, diabetes in India: Report

By Rajiv Shah  A new report , “The Junk Push: Rising Consumption of Ultra-processed foods in India- Policy, Politics and Reality”, public health experts, consumers groups, lawyers, youth and patient groups, has called upon the Government of India to check the soaring consumption of High Fat Sugar or Salt (HFSS) foods or ultra-processed foods (UPF), popularly called junk food.

Avoidable Narmada floods: Modi birthday fete caused long wait for release of dam waters

Counterview Desk  Top advocacy group, South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People (SANDRP), has accused the Sardar Sarovar dam operators for once again acting in an "unaccountable" manner, bringing "avoidable floods in downstream Gujarat."  In a detailed analysis, SANDRP has said that the water level at the Golden Bridge in Bharuch approached the highest flood level on September 17, 2023, but these "could have been significantly lower and much less disastrous" both for the upstream and downstream areas of the dam, if the authorities had taken action earlier based on available actionable information.

From 'Naatu-Naatu' to 'Nipah-Nipah': Dancing to the tune of western pipers?

By Dr Amitav Banerjee, MD*  Some critics have commented that the ecstatic response of most Indians to the Oscar for the racy Indian song, “Naatu-Naatu” from the film, “RRR” reeks of sheer racism, insulting visuals and a colonial hangover. It was perhaps these ingredients that impressed the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, one critic says.

Astonishing? Violating its own policy, Barclays 'refinanced' Adani Group's $8 billion bonds

By Rajiv Shah  A new report released by two global NGOs, BankTrack and the Toxic Bonds Network, has claimed to have come up with “a disquieting truth”: that Barclays, a financial heavyweight with a “controversial” track record, is deeply entrenched in a “disturbing” alliance with “the Indian conglomerate and coal miner Adani Group.”

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah*   The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual. 

Savarkar 'criminally betrayed' Netaji and his INA by siding with the British rulers

By Shamsul Islam* RSS-BJP rulers of India have been trying to show off as great fans of Netaji. But Indians must know what role ideological parents of today's RSS/BJP played against Netaji and Indian National Army (INA). The Hindu Mahasabha and RSS which always had prominent lawyers on their rolls made no attempt to defend the INA accused at Red Fort trials.

Insider plot to kill Deendayal Upadhyay? What RSS pracharak Balraj Madhok said

By Shamsul Islam*  Balraj Madhok's died on May 2, 2016 ending an era of old guards of Hindutva politics. A senior RSS pracharak till his death was paid handsome tributes by the RSS leaders including PM Modi, himself a senior pracharak, for being a "stalwart leader of Jan Sangh. Balraj Madhok ji's ideological commitment was strong and clarity of thought immense. He was selflessly devoted to the nation and society. I had the good fortune of interacting with Balraj Madhok ji on many occasions". The RSS also issued a formal condolence message signed by the Supremo Mohan Bhagwat on behalf of all swayamsevaks, referring to his contribution of commitment to nation and society. He was a leading RSS pracharak on whom his organization relied for initiating prominent Hindutva projects. But today nobody in the RSS-BJP top hierarchy remembers/talks about Madhok as he was an insider chronicler of the immense degeneration which was spreading as an epidemic in the high echelons of th

Asset managers hold '2.8 times more equity' in fossil fuel cos than in green investments

By Deepanwita Gita Niyogi*  The world’s largest asset managers are far off track to meet the  2050 net zero commitments , a new study  released by InfluenceMap , a London-based think tank working on climate change and sustainability, says. Released on August 1, the Asset Managers and Climate Change 2023 report by FinanceMap, a work stream of InfluenceMap, finds that the world’s largest asset managers have not improved on their climate performance in the past two years.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.