Maharashtra's Industrial Workers' Plight Missing from Election Narratives

Dasharath Waghmare is a 32-year-old working in Solapur’s power loom factory. He works for 12 hours per day and earns Rs 300. “These politicians say during elections, ‘Kisan aur majdoor ke liye hum vote maang rahe hain’, and once the elections are over, they conveniently forget kisan and majadoor,” said Waghmare.

This echoes what is felt by majority of the workers from Maharashtra’s industrial zones. To understand their issues, NewsClick visited Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation’s (MIDC’s) premises in Wardha (Vidarbha), Nanded and Aurangabad (Marathwada), Solapur (Western Maharashtra), Nasik and Jalgaon (North Maharashtra).

Raju Dudhane works for a chemical factory in Jalgaon. “I get Rs 15,000 as salary. This amount is not enough. How can I afford admission into a good school for my son?” said Raju, who lives with his wife and a three-year-old son. He feels that government should start schools for the children of labourers across India, so that quality education can be provided to the children.

“Government schools’ quality is deteriorating. We see that. But we have no other option,” he added.

Basic facilities like hospitals for workers, too, are not available in a number of parts of the state. Nagorao Jadhav works for a fertiliser factory in MIDC, Nanded. “ESIC [Employees’ State Insurance Corporation] is available. But where are the ESIC hospitals? There are none on Nanded. These provisions must be taken seriously by the Labour Department,” he said.

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Newsclick visited a basti of workers in Chakan MIDC area – one of the most prominent industrial zones in India. Villagers from the adjoining areas have built chawls to rent out accommodations. At Nanekar Wadi village, there are almost 3,500 chawls having about 50 rooms each. Those who are unmarried, or are staying alone (leaving the family behind in the native village) share these rooms. One room is shared by three to four workers.

Arunkumar Das is from Sitamarhi district of Bihar. He works for a canteen of a multinational company. He is contractual worker, and gets Rs 12,000 per month. As he works as a chef, he gets Rs 2,000 extra. Das shares his room with Rajnish Kumar, who hails from the same district, and earns Rs 10,000 per month.

“We don’t get any facilities as workers. What is the only relief is that we get our monthly salary on time, and also have a provident fund. Those who earn Rs 12,000 get only Rs 10,500 in hand after deductions. By sharing rooms here, we save money. But if we need urgent money for any purpose – medial reasons, for example – we don’t have any money for that,” said Arunkumar.

The corporate culture has slowly killed the unions, undermining the rights of the labourers. “Who will launch a union, boss? We will lose our jobs immediately. Gone are those days,” said Jadhao.

The state of the contractual labourers across Maharashtra is much worse as compared to the permanent workers. “Now, companies don’t offer permanent jobs. They hire human resource companies, who then employ the workers. This has been responsible for ending the job guarantee as well as other security provisions,” said Keshavrao Patil, manager of the canteen Das works for.

As the parliamentary elections are underway, we asked these workers whether they see their issues getting reflected in the political parties’ campaigns. “One will talk about India-Pakistan; another will talk about Rafale. Hamari baat kaun karega (Who will talk about our issues)?” questions Bharat Pawar from Chakan. He is a 24-year-old B.A. graduate working as a helper in Chakan’s MIDC. “I keep appearing for the state competitive exams to get a government job. Private job doesn’t offer a secure future. But I have no other option,” he said.

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