Out of job and surviving on parents’ pension

Yarn of life stretched to the limit for daily wagers such as Chitra in capital mill

For eight years, Chitra, a daily wager at the National Textile Corporation’s (NTC) Vijayamohini mills here, had earned just enough to meet her family’s expenses. Now, for the past one year, the family of six has been depending on the old-age pensions of her parents. When the NTC closed down its 23 spinning mills following the COVID-19-induced lockdown in March last year, Vijayamohini mills too downed its shutters and remained closed for more than one year. When the mill reopened in March this year, temporary workers were not called back. It again closed for some weeks for quality check of the fibre raw material before reopening on June 1. But not even the permanent workers who had worked during the period have not been paid their salaries for the past two months, while more than 150 temporary workers remain forgotten.