Employees of Sheena textiles, which is lying closed for past over one year, met Congress President and local Member of Parliament Sonia Gandhi in whose presence the management assured them that the unit will start soon.
An all-women delegation of 1000 workers met Gandhi at Raebareli on the second day of her three-day visit to her parliamentary constituency and apprised her of their problems, prompting her to call and direct the owner of the company Prakash Chug to start the unit as soon as possible, party sources said.
The unit started in 2007 but was closed due to financial crunch in July 2009, since then the women employed here have been demanding its opening so that they can earn their livelihood, according to the locals.
The women had earlier stopped Rahul Gandhi's cavalcade during his visit and raised their demands.
The delegation after meeting Gandhi felt happy and said that they were assured by the owner that the unit will start from Wednesday.
Besides them, over 600-700 people including locals, representatives of NGOs, Indian Telephone Industry, Anganbari workers and local leaders met Gandhi and told her about their problems.
Anganbari workers told Gandhi that they got meagre honorarium of Rs 1,700 per month when their services were utilised in pulse polio, census and other programmes.
"We asked the MP to increase our honorarium. We asked her that even in MNREGA the minimum wage is Rs 100 per day and we should be paid more," an Anganbari worker said.
The delegation of ITI workers asked Gandhi to ensure revival of the unit so that their jobs could be saved.
The locals of Raebareli demanded an electric crematorium, transport nagar, besides opening up of a closed Sugar mill in the area.
Representatives of over 10 NGOs met Gandhi and informed her about their difficulties, including problems in getting loans and government aids.
Image: Sonia Gandhi
