The Satyagraha movement of agitating workers of Century Rayon and Denim Mill of Birla group located in Khargone district in MP completed 1387 days on Thursday.
The mill management is forcibly giving VRS to the workers and employees, which is neither according to the rules nor in the public interest. The movement has been going on continuously since the year 2017 under the leadership of Mazdoor Shramik Janata Sangh. Meanwhile, the workers who struggled for even two meals a day because of the pandemic now only want employment.
For the past few days, social worker Medha Patkar, President of the Janta Shramik Sangh, also went on a hunger strike in support of the workers, but it did invoke any response from the Shivraj Singh government.
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On July 19, thirty farmers and labor organisations all across Madhya Pradesh had submitted a memorandum to the Chief Minister at the district headquarters and demanded that the BJP ruled Madhya Pradesh government should intervene immediately in the labour and management dispute and run the mill, fulfilling the demand of the majority of the workers.
The memorandum demanded the management to stop the forceful VRS and putting money in the accounts of workers against the rules. This ongoing struggle for the rights of workers is constitutional and just.
2. Violent Repression by MP Police
But on Tuesday, the movement was repressed by the Shivraj government that brought the police in large numbers which went on to engage in widespread brutality on the agitators, and all the items present at the protest site along with tents, etc. were confiscated.
Along with this, the indecent and violent treatment of the police forces against Medha Patekar and fellow women is shameful and highly objectionable. The police also arrested 700 people including Patekar and several other women who were present in the Satyagrah movement in large numbers.
The state government had employed police forces from four districts to violently remove the protestors. The protesting people were dragged into vehicles like cattle irrespective of their gender. More than 700 workers and women were arrested from the Century Satyagraha pandal. Not only this, in the midst of the rain, more than 200 were dropped near Kasrawad Phate. In this shameless incident, 20 workers have sustained serious injuries.
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Male police personnel beat up women protestors with batons. The clothes of hundreds of workers were torn. More than 350 workers were kept hungry throughout the day at ITI School Kasrawad.
More than 100 women were taken to Government College Kasrawad. Medha Patkar along with some women was kept in NVDA rest house.
The workers demanded to bring the arrested women and Shramik Janta Sangh president Medha Patkar among the workers first, which was not accepted by the administration, following which an indefinite fast was started.
More than 20 women and men suffered serious injuries due to the use of force by the police, in which 5 women were referred to Khargone Hospital. The rest were treated by doctors from Kasrawad Community Health Centre. After the arrest, the children of the workers staged a sit-in in front of the Mill gate.
