Apparel Online India Magazine April 2nd Issue 2018 | Page 42

INDIA CANVAS
Workers ‘assaulted'; or was it
a ‘group clash' at Shahi Exports
If mainstream media is to
be believed, the HR staff of a
Shahi Exports facility (Unit-8,
Kachohalli, Bangalore) have
been booked by the police.
It was reported that the HR
staff assaulted nearly 12
workers for joining a union. As
reported by ‘Deccan Herald’, the
Madanayakanahalli police said
the HR staff of Shahi Exports
took away 12 factory workers,
said to have played a leading role
in the union, to a separate cabin
and abused them. The workers
said they were then herded to a
warehouse area, where they were
callously thrashed. Thayamma, a
woman and Ameen, were severely
injured in the attack.
An activist of the Karnataka
Garment Workers Union (KGWU)
Sebastian Devaraj informed that
Ameen, the complainant, was
an elected member of the union.
Recently, the union raised three
issues – drinking water, salary
increment and transport facilities.
“The union drafted a letter to the
When Apparel Online approached the company on this issue,
Shahi Exports said, “A few undesirable elements in the workforce
were trying to instigate workers to stop work with outside
influence. On the pretext of creating nuisance with some false
claims and demands, they tried to raise some employment-
related issues in the factory.” It further added that the majority of
2,500 employees who understand Shahi Exports as a responsible
employer, however, were unwilling to accept their plea or
abide by their demands to create employment-related issues
in the factory. This resulted in heated arguments between the
employees and the miscreants, and eventually resulted in the
violence, all of which happened outside the factory premises.
The factory management intervened and called the police to
handle the law and order outside the factory. The miscreants
took the help of a union leader and an advocate, filed a false
complaint and told the main stream media a fabricated story.
Shahi management’s General
Manager, requesting his time to
discuss the issues. Since the GM
did not entertain the letter, the
workers drafted a petition and
gathered signatures of 800 to
1,000 employees, which irked the
management,” Devaraj claims.
The workers sent the letter to the
management and to the labour
department. A few management
staff identified the workers who
had played important role in the
union and attacked them.
e-way bill executed… Going smooth
in most of the hubs
From 1st April, the interstate
e-way bill system has been
introduced across India. Under
this system, it is mandatory
to have an e-way bill for the
transporter if transporting
consignment from one state to the
other at value worth Rs. 50,000
and above. Apparel Online
talked to a range of exporters
and observed that overall it is
working smoothly. In Tirupur,
Delhi and many other garment
hubs, industry is happy, as the
State Governments decided to
exempt the industry temporarily
from intrastate e-way bill,
though industry is demanding
this exemption to be made
permanent. As Tirupur garment
industry is depending on job-
workers for varying processes,
and these job-work units are
spread in the area of more than
30 km, following the e-way
system could be a cumbersome
process for industry. Some of
the exporters shared that things
were smooth even in case of
interstate transportation also.
Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh,
Gujarat and Telangana will
have mandatory e-way bills from
April 15th for movement of goods
within the state in the distance
of more than 10 km.
42 Apparel Online India | APRIL 16-30, 2018 | www.apparelresources.com
In Surat, Federation of
Surat Textile Traders’
Association (FOSTTA)
held a meeting with
senior authorities
of the Goods and
Services Tax in which
the misunderstanding
of textile goods
transporters on
transporting textile
goods valued below
Rs. 50,000 only through
e-way bill was cleared.
200 youth get
placement
in Tirupur
garment
factories
NIFT-TEA College of
Knitwear Fashion, Tirupur
recently organised a
placement drive and signed
up 200 youth into the Tirupur
apparel industry. More than
35 companies recruited
professionals for quality
control, fashion, production,
and design departments. The
drive was conducted to help
industrial firms here who
were looking for younger
workforce trained in latest
technologies. On the other
side, Shahi Exports selected
six students in the campus
interviews for recruitment
from DKTE Society’s Textile
and Engineering Institute,
Ichalkaranji.
In another development, in
Tirupur, a livelihood business
incubation centre started
functioning. It was set up as
a public-private partnership
venture under the Union
Government’s Aspire Scheme
at Rs. 1.12 crore. The Centre
is equipped with facilities
to train people regarding
stitching, pattern making and
designs for apparels.
The initiative of NIFT-TEA
Knitwear Fashion Institute
and National Small Industries
Corporation (NSIC) is aimed
at imparting training on
entrepreneurship and also
on skills related to garment
manufacturing. As per K. J.
Sivagnanam, the head of the
Centre, initially they have
planned to train 800 people in
the first year. NSIC Chairman
Ravindra Nath inaugurated
the Centre.
Raja Shanmugam, President,
Tirupur Exporters
Association; A. Sakthivel,
Vice Chairman, AEPC; and
C. M. N. Muruganandan, NIFT-
TEA Institute Chairman were
also present on this occasion.