Photo Essay: The Frayed Working Conditions In Surat’s Textile Hub

The textile industry in Surat, on Gujarat’s western coast, reverberates with the clatter of power-looms. Yet, beneath this veneer of modernisation lies a grim reality: the rampant exploitation of the power-loom workers.

The power-loom industry is a cornerstone of the city’s economy, with 700,000 to 800,000 loom machines producing nearly 40% of the nation’s synthetic fabric production, according to a 2017 report titled ‘Labour Conditions in Surat Textile Industry’ released by the People’s Training and Resource Centre. Further, close to 30 million metres of raw fabric and 25 million metres of processed fabric are produced every day in the synthetic textile industry of Surat.

This super-growth of the power-loom industry has been built on the foundations of an exploitative and perilous work environment. Factories operate in cramped spaces with poor ventilation, inadequate lighting and no safety measures, we found. Poor and minimal maintenance of machines further exacerbates the precarity for workers in the looms. According to a 2020 study by Aajeevika Bureau, as reported in the Handbook of Internal Migration in India, 94% of the workers who were tested using audiometry tests had hearing loss.

Wage protection laws remain unimplemented in the case of migrant workers due to their inability to prove formal employment relations, with wage fraud being a common occurrence, said a 2020 International Labour Organization report.

Despite their significant number, migrant workers in the power-looms continue to remain politically marginalised. Workers are unable to demand their rights, which invisibilises them.

The high degree of fragmentation in the production processes enables the power-looms to operate in an environment without any accountability for worker safety and well-being, as we explain below. The power-looms of Surat are commonly registered under the Gujarat Shops and Establishment Act, which lacks the comprehensive directives for workers' safety and well-being provided under the Factories Act. Labour governance and factory inspections must be strengthened to address workers' grievances including non-payment of wages, unfair accidental compensation, and lack of social protection.

More immediate action involves improving workplace safety by installing safety equipment in the machinery, improving working conditions like adequate spacing between machines, proper lighting and ventilation. In this photo essay, we shine a light on the harsh working conditions endured by the workers in Surat’s power-looms.

The power-loom units are cramped shop floors, where the employers arrange the layout to ensure that the maximum number of machines can be fit into the minimal space. Workers are forced to operate 12 to 14 machines in these cramped spaces and have to walk back and forth, frequently subjecting themselves to minor injuries.

In Surat’s old industrial estates, power-loom units typically operate in buildings nearly 30 years old, with three to four floors housing 12 to 24 machines each. These industrial clusters emerge as spaces wholly occupied by migrants, neglected and lacking even basic infrastructure like roads, drainage systems, and sanitation facilities.

Most staircases in the loom units are dimly lit, haphazardly constructed with varying foot spacing and heights, causing frequent falls. Workers typically carry heavy objects like yarn beams on their shoulders, navigating narrow, poorly lit stairways to other floors.

Unprocessed raw yarn enters the unit, sourced locally from yarn manufacturers. Workers involved in the initial stages of doubling and twisting the yarn are often prone to loss of limbs either due to amputation or crush injuries, electrocution and skin abrasions due to lack of, or the failure of the protective controls of the machine.

This stage is followed by steaming the yarn in a boiler, to convert it into fabric fit for weaving. Workers engaged in the boiler stage are prone to frequent burns and sometimes exposed to the risks of boiler blasts.

The warping stage rolls the yarn into large beams of cloth fitted into the machines. Operating ill-maintained machines, the workers are at risk of losing their fingers or limbs. Some workers have lost their lives.

The yarn that is rolled into beams weighs about 150-200 kg. It is physically carried by at least four workers on their backs by stairs to higher floors. The weight of the beams can lead to crush injuries, fractures, muscle and ligament sprains, disabilities and head injuries.

The bobbin machines transfer the processed yarn into spools. These spools are then fitted into the shuttles.

Shuttles are wooden projectiles with sharp steel-coated ends on the opposite ends of their body which weave the cloth in the power-loom machine. The shuttle runs at an average speed of 130-150 rpm. Nearly 35 to 40 bobbins may be used for a single shuttle daily since each bobbin spool lasts for about 15 to 20 minutes. The worker thus must deal with the shuttle at least 400 to 500 times on any given day.

The shuttle is the most dangerous object in the looms. The slightest fault in yarn positioning, broken or poor-quality machines or poor maintenance routines can cause the shuttle to fly out. These frequently occurring projectile accidents cause deep gashes and wounds on the skin, loss of eye and body parts, and even death.

There are no properly designated resting spaces for the workers to rest. One worker reported walking at least 7-8 km in a 12-hour shift, causing body soreness and long-term musculoskeletal problems. Beyond physical injuries, workers suffer from other chronic issues like hearing loss due to constant exposure to high-decibel noise, which also affects their mental health.

Electrical accidents in power looms are common due to old and poor-quality electrical fittings and exposed live wires that run bare on the shop floors. According to a crowd-sourced data tool to capture workplace accidents and injuries, between April 2023 to August 2024, 15 workers lost their lives due to electrocution while operating or attempting to stop machines across the power-looms of Surat.

The power-loom industry operates in a regulatory vacuum, where systems and institutions of accountability and safeguards are virtually non-existent for the workers, as we said. The lack of platforms for collectivisation and grievance redressal exacerbates the vulnerabilities of the workers in these power-looms.

Workers operating the power-looms are paid piece rates, ranging between Rs 1.5 and Rs 2.5 per metre of cloth produced. In a single shift, a worker operating 12 machines produces 360 metres of cloth. Some workers are forced to manage more than 12 machines and even pull 24-hour work shifts to maximise their daily earnings. The workers in the power-looms, including those engaged in other stages of the production process like warping, bobbin work, etc., on average, earn a daily wage of Rs 500-800 per day. The highly suppressed wages, flexible and undefined work arrangements perpetuate the exploitation of workers.