Will Bhiwandi’s looms ever get going again?

India has always been known for its textiles but the sorry state of the fabric manufacturers in a city in Maharashtra that makes up over 25 per cent of the countryrsquos textile industry is a warning about how this could change soonPowerloom units in the city of Bhiwandi are in deep crises due to the Covid19 pandemic But manufacturers also blame government policies that have led to black marketing and the monopoly of big industries over yarn which has added to their woesToday we have more than 75 lakh manual power looms and around 25000 auto power looms across Bhiwandi The textile industry employs more than 12 lakh people and 80 per cent are migrant workers from Bihar Uttar Pradesh Jharkhand West Bengal and other states But unfortunately the industry has been suffering for the past few years and now the pandemic is like the last nail in the coffin The government has always ignored this unorganised sector and today we are on the verge of shutting down due to its antitextile industry policiesrdquo said Abdul Rashid Tahir Momin president Bhiwandi Powerloom Weaversrsquo Federation According to Momin 5037 of the workers have not returned after the lockdown 25 37 have taken up other jobs and 2537 are back but working in single shiftsHe said the first wave of Covid19 did a lot of damage which can be seen in the second wave though the industry is working because the demand is very low due to which the workers are not returninglsquoBangladesh doing better than usrsquoThe power loom owners claim the ignorance of the central government is causing lot of damage to the industry ldquoWe were number two when it comes to the textile industry after China but now Bangladesh is doing much better than us Many power loom owners have shifted to Bangladesh as their policies are far better than ours for instance they get a huge subsidy in electricity bills and have government controlled yarn pricesrdquo Momin addedMigrant workers who were the backbone of the powerloom industry have not returned as they donrsquot have clarityAccording to the power loom owners the lockdown last year caused a lot of damage to the textile industry in Bhiwandi which was trying to survive after demonetisation and GST They said the Goods and Service Tax GST was the beginning of the devastation ldquoEarlier we would only pay 237 Value Added Tax VAT on yarn Now we end up paying 1237 tax on raw materials due to which many have shut down their looms In fact I shut down some of my unitsrdquo said Ehsan Ansari a power loom ownerldquoThe government gives back 537 once the clothes are ready but it takes lot of time and we pay 1237 at the time of purchase The government says that they have reduced the taxes but in reality we are paying more taxes now than earlier They are unable to control the black marketing of raw material which is increasing every day as the private players have full control over the pricerdquo said Rupesh Agarwal who now owns only one power loom unit with just two workersHe also said many of the migrant workers who were the backbone of the power loom industry have not returned as they donrsquot have any clarity Around 2537 migrant workers have switched to other jobsMohammed Saad power loom unit ownerlsquoTextile chalega to shahar chalegarsquoMohammed Saad another owner who also shut down multiple units said ldquoTextile chalega to shaher chalega The city will exist only as long as the textile industry exists If the government had created proper policies we could have survived the pandemic Earlier I used to get R8k electricity bill for one unit which has 24 power looms now I get Rs 30k for one unit The profit has gone down and the cost of production has doubled Earlier yarn prices were decided by the government and they changed on the 1st of every month We could decide our profit margin accordingly Now every morning we wake up to the news that prices of yarn have increased or fallen and they keep fluctuating making business very difficultrdquoRupesh Agarwal power loom unit ownerAccording to the federation they have been facing a rise in the electricity bills in the past 10 years and have protested about it but the government ignores them ldquoEarlier we used to get electricity Rs 3 per electrical unit and we had 6037 subsidy Rs 125 which was given by late former chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh in 2000 After that many a time the electricity tariff has been revised now the electricity rate is Rs 6 per electrical unit and we pay Rs 3 per electrical unit The cost of production is also rising and so are the bills The government must look into thisrdquo Momin saidldquoEarlier there used to be 3037 fund called TUF Textile Upgradation Fund which the Modi government has minimised to just 1037 and this needs to be checkedrdquo said another traderAccording to the federation China with its latest technology is equally contributing to the destruction of Indiarsquos textile market ldquoAs there is no duty for SAARC countries China supplies all its textile products to Bangladesh Bhutan Nepal and Sri Lanka and the same comes to India at a cheaper price We end up purchasing Chinese yarn which is boosting their economy The government needs to control this as well by imposing antidumping duty on other countriesrdquo Momin saidWhat will we do ask migrant workersShafir Ansari 30Shafir from Jharkhand earned Rs 700Rs 1000 per day and now gets Rs 500Rs 600 per day but gets work only 45 days a week ldquoWe used to work in four different shifts now only one shift is there with just two three workers If this industry shuts down what will we dordquo he saidSalman Ansari 30Ansari also from Jharkhand used to earn Rs 500Rs 700 per day before the pandemic and now earns Rs 400Rs 500 but gets work only some days a week ldquoMany of my colleagues have taken up other jobs But I canrsquot even think of that We just hope that the government will save our jobsrdquo he saidWhat traders wantThe traders want the government to work on this fourpoint agenda to revive the Bhiwandi textile industrygtgt More subsidy for electricitygtgt Fixed prices of yarngtgt No frequent changes in government policiesgtgt Modernisation of the textile industry to compete with China