In the aftermath of the 1961 Panshet dam disaster, many of the victims were shifted to rehabilitation camps. Among the victims was a young man who found himself in the Senadutta Peeth camp in Navi Peth. There were no hospitals, no schools, no safe drinking water nor any electricity. But Madhukar Atre took stock of the difficulties and formed a mandal in which 200 stranded families could work together towards a common goal.

A public relations consultant and committed activist, Atre’s special involvement with industrial workers was evident from the very beginning. “Industries had just started sprouting in and around Pune in the early 1960s. Industrial managements took complete care of their workers for the eight hours they spent on the factory premises. But what about the rest of the time? I felt that the management should also be concerned about their workers’ welfare outside the factory. They should be given a platform where they are able to express their opinions and explore their talent,” he says.

Atre, along with Anant Oak, proposed setting up a forum where workers could showcase their talents in fields such as literature, drama and photography at a meeting of the Mahratta Chamber of Commerce and Industries. And in 1963, the Audyogik Lalit Kala Mandal, with R D Pusalkar as chairman, was born. “One-act play competitions, inter-factory bhajan competitions were started through the Mandal, which continue to this day,” he says.

Not content with the success of this effort, Atre, whose nine-year stint at Garware Nylons had brought him in close contact with workers, decided to step in and fulfill the need for a true interaction between workers and their management. Under the aegis of his public trust, Udyog Samvadini, he started a journal devoted to workers. “At that time, 27 factories in and around Pune brought out their own house journal. I thought that if I could get them to come together and bring out one common journal once a year, it would ensure greater interaction among the workers.” With the co-operation of factory workers, Atre and his staff published the first issue of Shramavishwa on May 6, 1989.

Now in its ninth year, the journal addresses a variety of issues – from total quality management and computers to responsible parenting and poems. Essay competitions on debatable issues like Are strikes necessary?’ are also arranged through its columns. “Essentially, it also bridges the gap between the management and workers and the workers and the media. Usually strikes and mishaps are the only incidents that are reported while workers and their factories have many other newsworthy achievements to their credit,” he says. From a circulation of 5,000 when it started, the journal today has a circulation of 20,000.

To Atre, workers’ welfare is paramount. “I found that many workers were dying relatively young due to health problems. After some investigation, senior physician Dr H V Sardesai told me that as most factory workers had meals at their canteens, the calorie-laden food given to them was responsible for their problems,” he says. Through the Society for Health and Productive Environment SHAPE, a society he founded, Atre decided to hold a novel competition – the industrial canteen competition.

“We send questionnaires to factories through which we check sugar and oil consumption, the proportion of green vegetables and cereals used in the canteen food, the kind of menu changes brought about, the mode of buying food, whether the vegetables are washed before being cut and the like. A team of judges comprising food technologists, dieticians, labour leaders select the winners in different categories,” he says.

Not one to rest on his laurels, Atre is already thinking of making a 30-minute TV serial for industrial workers, called Puneri misal. “I would like Shramavishwa, which is still restricted to places in and around Pune, to be circulated elsewhere as well,” he says.