"Let Us See How These Factories Run Without Us": Jammu Migrants Refuse to Return

As soon as Ramesh (name changed) was released from detention, the first thing he did was pack his bag and leave. For the 40-year-old, who earned his livelihood by working in a factory in Jammu, the lockdown has been a nightmare which has left him without a job, penniless and behind bars.

Desperate to go back home to Bihar, Ramesh vowed that he would never return. “I will never come back. I would rather die in poverty instead of coming back. Humko dhakke maar kar nikala hai, itni bezzati ke baad kaun wapis aayega. (We have been thrown out. Who would return after being treated like this?),” he said.

Recently, on 14th May, scores of workers were allegedly arrested for protesting in over non-payment of wages. On May 8, hundreds of workers who worked at Chenab Textile Mills huddled outside the factory and blocked the Jammu-Pathankot highway over pending wages. The workers claimed that they they had no other option but to protest, after several requests made to the factory manager yielded no results.

Speaking to NewsClick, a worker said: "We have been given half our wages with the management saying that the company cannot afford to pay our wages in full because of operations being stalled due to the lockdown." Some workers even claimed that they had been working at Rs 350 per day but the management reduced their wages to Rs 150 per day.

Unable to contain the situation, the police was called upon to pacify the workers. Workers claimed that the police lathi charged and hit children and women, following which they resorted to stone pelting.

“A police officer who spoke Bhojpuri pacified us by saying that we will get our dues and that facilities will be made available for us to reach home, but the factory management has been brutal to us,” said another worker, requesting anonymity.

However, the episode did not end there. Almost a week after the protest, arrests were made. Workers claim that close to 40 of them had been arrested. As per the Kathua police, “they had arrested only three to four workers." As per the officials, the workers allegedly turned violent, resulting in the police resorting to lathi charge and detaining them for allegedly damaging police vehicles and other items.

However, workers have accused the police of distorting facts.

Satendra, whose brother has been arrested, said that that he was innocent. “He participated in the protest because his wages were pending as well. It has been four days now. Everyday, I go to the police station to meet him. I have been told that they will release him but we do not know when. He is a young boy of 19," he added.

Since its inception in 1965, Chenab Textile Mills is one of the oldest factories in Jammu and Kashmir with between 5,000 to 6000 employees. The mill has close to ten units producing synthetic and cotton yarn.

The factories have stalled operations since the lockdown began and also suspended workers after they protested over wages. The workers have also accused factory management of threatening them.

"The factory manager and the junior Vice-President threatened us, saying that if they ever saw us around they would make sure that we are behind bars for years and are not even able to see our families,” said another worker.

Workers who have been released from detention are on their way home. The workers said that the disowning by the factory management, the bad treatment meted out to them and a loss of trust were their reasons for returning home.

Ramesh, who had been detained on May 15 and released a day later, is on his way home in a bus arranged by the administration, but which is running on workers’ expenses. "There are around 40 people in this bus and we have paid Rs 3,000 each to go back home. We are sure that we will never come back,” he added.

Upset over the treatment meted out to them, Ramesh and other workers in the bus shout in unison: "We will not return….Let us see how these factories will run without us."