After struggling for two years with no work due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh turned into a money-spinner for a large number of powerloom workers in Surat, the world’s largest manufacturing hub for artificial fabrics.
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Over a lakh workers are engaged in weaving, dyeing and stitching the election material and tricolour for the last month to meet the high demand from the political parties.
Workers at a factory in Surat, Gujarat on Saturday. | Photo Credit: VIJAY SONEJI
Ahmedabad’s loss, Surat’s gain
Though the business during the Diwali season was relatively slow, the contest between Bharatiya Janata Party, Congress and Aam Aadmi Party, not just in Gujarat, but also in Himachal Pradesh, has been a boon for the textile industries here in Surat. Eleven months of restrictions imposed on the textile units in Ahmedabad to curb the pollution levels have benefitted Surat in generating more business from the political parties this election season, the traders and owners of textile industries said.
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Political parties have placed orders for lakhs of caps, t-shirts, scarves, party flags, sarees, festoon flags, tent material for decorating the stage, and banners.
“Temporary ban on processing units in Ahmedabad has surely benefitted the business here, which was lull even during the Diwali season. But, producing lakhs of metres of material is easy compared to stitching and screen printing, which is usually carried out in Ahmedabad. Stitching caps and flags is a time taking process and requires a lot of patience,” said Khushal Barochia, an employee of a small-scale textile unit.
According to Sanjay Saraogi, director of Laxmipati Sarees, a leading textile unit in Gujarat, there is high demand and the sales are expected to reach over ₹1,000 crore this election season. He said that there are around 25 textile industries in Surat, which are exclusively producing election materials, including lakhs of metres of sarees, tent material, flags and scarves. “I took a work order of ₹25 crore, which is relatively less when compared with other units. This year the market turnover for the election season will be not less than ₹1,000 crore,” he said.
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Amitbhai Mittal, who works at a similar unit in Pandesara, the city industrial hub, said that so far they have delivered more than 15 lakh Nehru-styled saffron-coloured topis, over 10 lakh scarves, apart from other election material to various BJP units across the State.
“We only take orders from BJP. Our units have been functioning round-the-clock for the past several weeks. Not just for Gujarat, we are supplying similar materials by printing respective State maps to Maharashtra and Rajasthan as well, he said.
Gujarat assembly election will be held on December 01 and 05, 2022. | Photo Credit: VIJAY SONEJI
There are many power loom unit owners like Mr.Saraogi, Mr. Mittal and Mr. Barochia in the city who are producing election material for various political parties in the State.
“I got an order from a leader of AAP for five lakh caps, 10 lakh scarves and flags for immediate delivery. We are supplying the material on a daily basis. I’m told another unit in the area got a delivery order for more than 10 lakh caps and over 15 lakh scarves from the AAP for Delhi civic polls,” said Rajeshbhai Shah.