Indore: The Madhya Pradesh government is set to pay Rs 6.54 crore to two lawyers who fought the Hukumchand Mill workers case. This will be the highest amount that has ever been paid by the government to any lawyer.
An amount of Rs 3.27 crore each will be credited to the bank accounts of advocates Girish Patwardhan and Dheeraj Pawar, who represented the mill workers. A payment of Rs 54 lakh has already been made by the government.
Earlier, a single bench of Justice Subodh Abhyankar of the Indore bench of the High Court directed the Madhya Pradesh Housing and Infrastructure Board to deposit Rs 425 crore in the no-lieu SBI, Bhopal's account while the government has approved Rs 464 crore for giving it to the workers and their families.
An amount of Rs 229 crore was approved for the Hukumchand workers of which, Rs 50 crore was given to the workers by the government while of the remaining Rs 179 crore, the housing board approved Rs 174 crore.
This apart, the workers demanded an interest of Rs 88 crore from the government. The last cabinet of Shivraj Singh Chouhan government had approved Rs 44 crore and Rs 223 crore was said to be distributed to the workers.
One of the largest mills in Indore, Hukumchand Mill, with 5885 workers was suddenly closed down on December, 12 1991 without any prior notice. Since then, the workers have been fighting a long battle for their salary dues, gratuity and others.
Chairman of the workers union, Narendra Srivansh said that more than 2500 workers have died and others are facing a harrowing time due to lack of money. "The only hope that they have been cherishing all these years is to get their outstanding dues. Finally the day has come when all would get their rightful money," he said.
Chief Minister Mohan Yadav has already approved giving the money to the mill workers. Yadav is coming to Indore on December 26 and it is likely that he will personally distribute the amount to the workers of Hukamchand Mill. Also, the lawyers too might receive their payment at that time.
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