Former employees of the defunct Hukumchand Mill were in for a shock when they learnt that the state government told the Indore bench of MP High Court that it can not take any decision on the mill's fate in view of model code of conduct being in force.
The state government's view was in the reply filed by its lawyer. The court had asked the government to clear its stand on the Hukumchand Mill. The former employees of the mill, who were assured by chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan of completing legal process for auction of assets of the mill to clear their dues, were shocked by the government's move.
They gathered in a large number at the High Court premise and expressed resentment. They accused the government of cheating. "As assured by the Chief Minister, we were anticipating a positive move by the government. However, the government has left us high and dry," said union leader Narendra Srivansh.
The workers and their leaders said that BJP leaders have been giving false assurances for the past 20 years. 'We had no option but to believe in the leaders but it has gone beyond endurance limit. We will no allow this further," they said.
They said that there are about 60000 voters including family members of the mill workers and many more across the state. "We will vote out BJP in the forthcoming election," they declared.
The employees of Hukum Chand Mill are struggling for their dues for two decades. As many as 64 employees have reportedly committed suicide while about 1300 have died waiting for their dues since 1991 at the time of closure of mill. About 6000 employees have total pending dues of Rs 229 crores. The mill has also to repay loan of Rs 387 crores to the banks.
Union had alleged that price of 42.49 acres of Hukumchand Mill is around Rs 1600 crores (as per guideline rate), but Debts Recovery Tribunal had set reserve price of just Rs 400 crores for the auction. They feared that amount would be not sufficient to pay pending dues of Rs 387 crores of banks and Rs 229 crores of employees.
