Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls: City of bangle makers looks for change

As Firozabad goes to polls on Sunday, glass workers seek better conditions, higher wages and health care

“I will vote for change.” That is what Moham­mad Shafeeq, a bangle maker of Firozabad, says he will do on Sunday when the third phase of polling is held in Uttar Pradesh.

What may sound as an oft-cited, cliched expression is anchored in urgent, immediate concerns. Asked what change mea­ns to him, the 22-year-old first-time voter says: “Good working conditions, medical facilities and better wages.”

Not just Shafeeq, but many others working at the unit where he’s employed, Kohinoor Bangle Industries, will vote for the same cause.

The district of Firozabad, known as the glassmaking hub of India, employs over 20,000 workers in its 7,874 registered industrial units, according to the state government’s Department of MSME and Export Promo­tion website. A majority of these units are bangle manufacturing factories, which produce over 80 per cent of all utility glass products for India’s domestic market.

For workers engaged in glass manufacturing, besides low wages and lack of healthcare facilities, closure of factories in the region is one of the major reasons for worry.

“Over 100 factories have closed operations in the past four years, leaving thousands without livelihood. People are ready to work here at 1,400 Celsius degrees (roughly the temperature at which glass gets moulded) for just Rs 200 a day,” says Shankar Singh, 45, a factory worker.

Citing the health hazards resulting from it, he adds, “Everyone has to die one day. But we are dying every day, inhaling toxic fumes while our hands pick and mould gleaming bangles.”

According to insiders, about 90 per cent of the district’s working population is directly or indirectly linked to the bangle industry. When­ever a factory shuts operation, the cost of labour decreases. The rising cost of raw materials and labour, and lack of aid from the government result in factory owners exploiting workers by paying them low wages, they add.

The Covid-19 lockdown and the economic slowdown that followed worsened the conditions for workers.

Irfan Khan, 21, a second-generation worker who lost his father to tuberculosis, says his wages have not inc­reased in the past five years. “Every day is a struggle for survival. If there are more wor­kers looking for employment, on a rare day one might agree to work for Rs 100, which I used to get when I started in 2014.

“We are wor­k­ing for 8-10 hours daily with chemicals and toxic gases, but get no medical attention. I fear meeting a similar fate as my father,” he says.

The combination of che­m­icals, heat and glass poses serious health risks for workers. “Most people die of tube­rculosis or other fatal infections of the lungs and chest due to the toxic gases,” says Chandar Pal, a local doctor.

For women workers, the situation is only worse.

Marzina, a 42-year-old widow, works with 600 men in a factory. She gets paid 30-40 per cent less than her male colleagues, just enough for herself and her three children to live with dignity. “I don’t get a widow pension. The government only gives food. I work to give my children better education and life so they don’t end up working here,” she says.

Asked why factories are shutting operations in UP, Khalid Naseer, the owner of Kohinoor Bangle industries, says that in the past five years the price of natural gas has almost doubled from Rs 17 per standard cubic metre. Also, up to 18 per cent goods and services tax on raw materials and the increase in labour cost is breaking the back of this industry, he says.

“The day is not far when glass bangles will only be relics if the government continues to turn a blind eye to this industry. People are closing factories because workers protest demanding high wages, but if we increase product cost buyers protest.”

In 2018, the UP government launched the One Dis­trict One Product (ODOP) scheme to support various stakeholders on financial, tec­hnical and managerial fronts. Factory owners say the government brought in ODOP to promote local ind­ustries, but add its execution hasn’t been as promising.

Alleging that the ODOP scheme in Firozabad has been a failure , former CM and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav recently promised a new glass city in the district if his party formed the government after the Assembly election. “If a new glass hub is required for the development of the state, we will build a new glass industry,” Yadav had said.

But until the glass city gets a revamp or aid for its glassware industries, Firoza­bad with its population of approximately two million will be a shadow of its past.