Around 80 labour activists and textile embroidery workers were detained across Surat on Thursday as they attempted to reach the district collector’s office in Athwalines to submit a representation seeking implementation of labour codes, an eight-hour workday and a paid weekly day off.
The detentions began in the morning and continued until the afternoon, with police teams deployed in several parts of the city to prevent groups of workers and activists from assembling or travelling towards the collectorate. The detained leaders and workers were later released.
The protest emerged from the textile embroidery sector, where workers have alleged that they are required to work 12-hour shifts while being paid the same amount they would receive for an eight-hour workday. They are also demanding a weekly day off with pay and have sought implementation of the labour codes.
Indian National Trade Union Congress Gujarat president Naisadh Desai was detained after reaching the Athwalines area and was taken to Umra police station. Worker leaders Suresh Sonavane and Malkhan Verma were detained earlier and taken to Pandesara police station. Shan Khan, an activist associated with workers in the textile transport sector, was also detained in Athwalines.
Desai said labour rights activists had held a meeting on Sunday and decided to submit the representation to the district collector on Thursday. According to him, Dubey, Sonavane and Verma had sought police permission to submit the document but were arrested one after another. Activist Ajay Dubey had separately been arrested on October 12 in an alleged extortion case.
Worker leaders said police personnel visited industrial societies in Surat district on Wednesday and maintained a vigil from early Thursday. Sonavane alleged that the police action prevented the group from making even a peaceful submission. He further claimed that the detained activists were held in conditions that prevented them from meeting others or speaking on the phone.
The episode places labour conditions in Surat’s textile and embroidery economy alongside questions about how workers can formally present grievances to district authorities. The account of the police action and the allegations regarding the detentions were reported by the worker leaders and activists; the supplied report did not include a police response to those claims.
Following their release, activists announced that they would submit a representation to the Surat police commissioner on Friday, protesting the restrictions imposed on their planned submission at the collector’s office.
