Members of Tirupur People’s Movement (TPM) staged a demonstration in front of Dindigul Corporation office on Tuesday condemning exploitation of adolescent girls by spinning mills in the State.
Addressing the gathering, TPM State coordinator Melvin said that the mills should stop exploiting adolescent girls by offering fake schemes like marriage and higher education programmes. Such programmes should be banned by the government.
Action should be taken against middlemen and agents who brought these girls for work in spinning mills under Section 370 (trafficking personnel) of the Indian Penal Code, he said.
The government should frame a new law banning appointment of girls, aged between 14 and 18 years, in mills.
Many mill managements did not pay even the minimum wages to them, and other benefits such as ESI and PF were totally denied to them. Many girls had been facing sexual harassment, verbal abuse and living in unhygienic accommodation while working in the mills, he charged.
The government should frame new guidelines for setting up stay homes meant for these girls within the mill campus and bring them under the control of Social Welfare Department. Opportunity should be given for the girls to air their grievances personally, Mr. Melvin insisted.
Tamil Nadu Textile and Common Labour Union secretary S. Divya said that three girls, who had faced harassment in a private mill in Karamadai in Coimbatore district, were rescued only after the intervention of top officials.
A recent survey stated that 70,000 out of 92,000 workers in 200 spinning mills in the district were women, 56 per cent of whom were in the age group of 14-18 years.
About 7,400 women completed Plus Two, 14,800 SSLC and 36,000 girls dropped out of school after completing sixth and ninth classes.
Middlemen lured girls from rural areas on the false promises of marriage assistance, higher education, etc, she charged.
