Nearly 40 years after the erstwhile K.R. Mills in Mysuru shut operations, a section of the surviving workers staged a demonstration in the city on Thursday, November 2, seeking justice.
They alleged that though 40 years has passed since the shutting down of the factory, compensation due to the workers was yet to be fully settled.
Mr. Raghu of Siddalingapura and from the Sarvajanika Hitaraskhana Sanghatane said that a majority of the workers have expired since then and many have shifted occupations but a handful were still present in Mysuru and surrounding regions.
He said the mill – which was subsequently procured and renamed as Atlantic Spinning and Weaving Mill in 1994 — was established by the then ruler Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar and has a historic association with Mahatma Gandhi who had paid a visit to it during his tour of Mysuru region. In view of its historicity efforts should be made to modernize and revive the mill besides settling the compensation for the surviving workers of the erstwhile K.R. Mills, said Mr. Raghu.