Law and order situation deteriorates in Gujarat Home Minister Harsh Sanghavi’s hometown in Surat

Surat (Gujarat): The police department in Gujarat Home Minister Harsh Sanghavi’s hometown of Surat has come under fire for the deteriorating law and order situation in the diamond city. While the Home Minister is busy praising the police, Surat has become a hotbed of criminal activity.

The sensational triple murder case in the textile embroidery unit in Anjani industrial estate on Sayan Road in Amroli has shocked textile entrepreneurs in the country’s largest man-made fabric (MMF) textile sector in Surat. On Christmas Day, December 25, two teenage textile workers carried out the heinous triple murder of the embroidery unit owner, his son, and uncle.

Surat police arrested the murderers from Ganjam district in Odisha on December 26 from their hideout in Katargam GIDC. The police recovered several weapons from the accused’s possession.

The triple murder case has shook Surat’s textile industry. Surat’s textile industry employs over 15 lakh migrant workers from states such as Bihar, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, and Maharashtra. Odisha workers make up roughly 70% of the total workforce in Surat’s textile industry.

On Monday, textile entrepreneurs from the powerloom weaving and embroidery sectors gathered at a meeting called by the Federation of Gujarat Weavers Association (FOGWA). FOGWA office-bearers have unanimously decided that textile unit owners in Surat will be required to perform KYC on migrant textile workers.

Migrant workers will be required to provide their aadhar cards, pancards, photographs, and proof of residence in their hometowns in other states immediately, or they will be denied employment in the textile industry. The textile unit owners will submit biodata for each of their employees to the respective police stations.

“The law and order situation in Surat has deteriorated with the triple murder of our fellow unit owner in Anjani Industries,” said Ashok Jirawala, president of FOGWA. “We met with Surat’s police commissioner and urged him to protect textile entrepreneurs from workers with criminal records.”

According to Jirawala, FOGWA has requested that the police department patrol industrial areas throughout the city 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The city police must keep an eye on roadside eateries and small hotels near industrial areas because the majority of crimes are planned from these locations by migrant workers.

“We have asked all the unit owners in Surat to deposit the workers’ wages into their bank accounts and stop the cash payment system,” Jirawala said.

“The police and the Home Minister are busy applauding the police for apprehending the youngsters driving recklessly on the city roads,” said Rakesh Patel, a powerloom weaver in Pandesara. Now we want them to apprehend the criminals who are loose in the industrial areas. Many textile workers are wanted in criminal cases in their hometowns and work in textile units.”