Ahmedabad, Feb. 11 :    Ahmedabad, Feb. 11:  There are no signs of the labourers yet. When weavers went on a strike last month, nearly 75 per cent of the labourers left textile city Surat and went home - to Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. That's where these migrant labourers had mostly come from. Over two weeks ago, the weavers withdrew the strike they had called to protest against the high power tariff. But with a large section of the one million workers engaged in processing, spinning and weaving still away, nearly 50 per cent of the one lakh-odd powerlooms are either not operational or running only partially. And this at a time when the Gujarat government is going all out to highlight the 'vast opportunities for investment' in the state. This, though, is not the first time that there's been such a mass exodus from Surat. It happened twice in the past decade: during the 1992 communal riots and then again during the plague of 1994. But on both occasions, the state and the employers made efforts to get in touch with the workers and bring them back. In 1994, the state arranged for special trains to fetch workers from Orissa. The labour minister even visited the eastern state and exhorted the labourers to return. But this time, no one's made any effort to bring them back, said Naishad Desai, chairman of the South Gujarat Labour Institute and Textile Labour Association. L. Mansingh, the principal secretary, industries and mines, confirmed that the state government would not try to bring back the migrant labourers. The workers, he claimed, would come back on their own as there won't be enough work for them in their home states. But trade union leaders Urmila Rana and Desai feel this time the situation is different from that in 1992 and 1994. Then, Surat had a monopoly in the textile sector. But textile units are now coming up in Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Karnataka. So, workers from these states might not want to come back to Surat any more, said Desai. He added that even if they do, it would not be before Holi in end-March. Desai was afraid some of the units in Surat might even shift to a state where skilled labour is readily available. But the state, alleged trade union leaders, is 'busy giving tax holidays' to 'rebuild Kutch', while turning a blind eye to Surat. The state, however, feels the full potential of the sector can be tapped only when multinational companies step in. According to the state government, excellent opportunities exist in the development of the apparel industry as many of the existing textile mills are in the process of expanding their activities into garments. An apparel park will soon be set up in Surat, for which a site has also been identified, the industry secretary said.