As reported in earlier issue of People's Voice, the struggle of textile workers in defence of public property as well as in defence of their right to livelihood is mounting.

After a prolonged struggle, including a dharna which has lasted 1540 days on August 5, 2007, the central government and the textile ministry have given indications that one BIC mill, Elgin Mill No 1, will be reopened. This has given hope to the workers of all the closed BIC and NTC mills in the city that if they waged the struggle, they might force the government to open other closed mills as well.

Given that the property in terms of real estate of the NTC and BIC mills in Kanpur alone is in tens of thousands of crores, there is enough capital available with the NTC and BOC management to do such a thing. That the textile ministry sold an old mill in Karnataka and established a new mill in its place has also given impetus to the struggle of Kanpur workers.

On August 3, 2007, workers of the BIC and NTC mills of Kanpur, gathered under the banner of the Kanpur Trade Union Council outside the office of the NTC to protest against the corruption of the management in the sale of NTC properties. Demanding an enquiry into all the sales carried out, the workers called for the establishment of composite mills in place of the old mills as happened in Karnataka. They also demanded that the management follow the BIFR orders and run the NTC mills in Mau and Naini to full capacity.

On July 29, workers sat on dharna at the Gandhi statue in Phulbagh, to express their anger and opposition at the manner in which the BIC management are disposing off the properties of the BIC mills at throwaway prices.

On July 22, workers had held a demonstration at the gate of Elgin Mill-1 to expose and oppose the underhand practices of the BIC management in sale of mill property. On that occasion, a memorandum was submitted by the Trade Union Council of Kanpur to the Union Textile Ministry, calling for enquiry into all the sales of BIC property carried out thus far. The press release pointed out that while the UPA government made big claims about its commitment to transparency in public dealings because it had passed the Right to Information Act, the reality was that a ministry of this very government was refusing to part with information regarding the properties that were being sold off, and it was using the tender method to carry out underselling to interested parties, as the recent example in Lal Imli mill confirmed. Workers demanded that sale be not done through tender, but through public auction, so that the best price was realized for the property and corruption could be minimized.

This correspondent of People's Voice asked Mohd Sami the Secretary of the Kanpur Trade Union Council, under whose banner these dharnas have been organized, the reason for these dharnas. What were the worries of the workers?

Comrade Sami pointed out that the management of BIC and NTC mills have a long history of underselling the mill properties and enriching themselves and their capitalist friends at the cost of the society. The recent scandal surrounding the sale of the land belonging to Lal Imli mills (part of the BIC group of mills—ed) is the most recent example of this. Several officials have been suspended in the past for this. The Trade Union Council has been fighting for the reopening of the Elgin Mill. No1, for a long time, and it has organized a dharna at the gate of Elgin 1 on this issue which is 1540 days old, as of August 5, 2007. We workers consider the mill property as our property, as the property of the whole of society. We will not allow the siphoning off of this wealth by unscrupulous officials, politicians, capitalists or real estate speculators. The Trade Union Council therefore demands that the government/management publicly describe the properties of the mills, with clear details including size of land, location, the potential price, etc.

While welcoming the decision of the government to reopen Elgin Mill No 1, the workers have declared that they will not allow loot of public property by BIC management in the name of raising funds to reopen the mill. The property of BIC belongs to the people. Hence it is the duty of people to defend this public property from loot and destruction.

People's Voice hails the militant and principled struggle of the workers of Kanpur.