Mary, a worker of Subhash Silk Mills which closed down in January this year, said: ``My husband's company also closed down, and at the place where he works today, he gets only Rs 2,500. How can a family of four survive on Rs 2,500?'' Mary, who was in the rolling department, used to get around Rs 2,500 herself. But since the lockout, none of the 500 workers in the mill have been paid.

``While cases have also been filed in High Court and Industrial Court, we believe the fight has to be two-pronged. In the courts and on streets,'' said advocate Vinod Shettym, who, along with Gayatri Singh and Colin Gonsalves, are fighting for the workers' rights.

OrkayIndustries, Rajesh Dyeing and Bleaching Works, which belong to Kapal Mehra, were illegally closed down since January 1998, and workers were not paid since November 1997, workers said. No notices were put out, and power supply was cut off, they added.

Similarly, Subhash Silk Mills, owned by Ved Prakash Mehra and Subhash Mehra was illegally locked out on February 22, 1998, they maintained, adding that work for the company was being carried out at its plant at Khopoli. Vijay Synthetics, owned by Dharampal Mehra, which employed around 150 workers was locked out in March 1998. None of the workers' salaries have been paid.

``Not only this, huge sums of money were siphoned off by the company and we have asked that HC set up an independent body to look into the accounts of the companies,'' said Shetty. This and several other charges against the company are expected to come up in court on December 11, he informed.

The workers also raised slogans against the state government and accused it of doing nothing in thematter.