Trade unions stage protest against closure of mills in Puducherry

‘They are the main source of revenue for the government and employ a large number of workers’

Members of the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) and various other trade unions on Tuesday staged a demonstration near the Assembly, condemning the proposed move of the Industries Department to wind up the State-run Swadeshi and Bharathi mills in Puducherry.

Leading the demonstration, AITUC Puducherry unit president V.S. Abishegam said the government had failed to revive the mills. The AITUC was in favour of restructuring and reviving the mills to provide jobs to hundreds of people, he said.

AITUC general secretary Sethu Selvam said textile mills in Puducherry, including the Anglo-French Textiles (AFT) mills, were the main source of revenue for the government and employed a large number of workers. But over the years, the mills closed down operations due to maladministration, irregularities and lack of efforts by the government to revive them.

Even now, the workers have not been apprised of the move by the management, while the trade unions came to know about the development only through an order of the Industries Department seeking permission to wind up operations, he said.