The workers took this unanimous decision after they stormed into the mill premises this afternoon. Senior officers of the N M Joshi Marg police station rushed to the mill and pacified the workers, who were demanding arrest of the mill owner.

According to Datta Iswalkar, president of the Girni Kamgar Sangharsh Samiti, which is spearheading the struggle for the revival of the mill, the owner is misusing the sale proceeds of the land and stalling its revival under a scheme by the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR). The workers' wages have also been stopped, he added.

The workers have declared that they will not leave the premises till Chief Minister Narayan Rane orders the reopening of the mill and release full compensation.

The workers said that the state government should take over the Matulya Mills and save theirjobs and fulfil their claims. They also demanded that the construction work in the mill premises should be stopped immediately.

In a press release, Iswalkar alleged that the modernisation scheme was not undertaken at the mill and production has come to a halt since September 1998.