Bleak future for cotton mill as modernisation plan put on hold

Tirupati: Once a vibrant enterprise, the Tirupati Cotton Mill (TCM) at Suryanarayanapuram near here, now looks haunted, revealing its sorrowful state.

Located on a sprawling land of 49 acres on the Renigunta-Chennai highway, the mill has provided bread and butter to about 1500 families in its hay days.

TCM which has a long history of about 60 years of existence (opened amidst much fanfare, by the then Chief Minister Neelam Sanjiva Reddy on August 29, 1958), is one of the six mills acquired by NTC (National Textiles Corporation) in 1974. While TCM is surviving against odds, five other mills (Ajam Jahi Mills in Warangal, Nataraj Spinning Mill in Nirmal (Adilabad), Anantapur Cotton Mill in Tadipatri, Netha Spinning Mill in Hyderabad and Adoni Cotton Mill in Adoni were closed. TCM, a private company set up in 1958 was taken over by NTC in 1974 after it became sick, to prevent the 1000 and odd employees from being thrown out on the streets. Everything went well with the mill till 1994, but trouble started later. Year after year, the mill production had gradually decreased, affecting the employees’ strength which had now come down to mere 25 permanent staff and about 250-275 casual employees.

Ruthuparnaiah, a retired employee turned melancholic, while recalling the heydays of the mill. “The mill and the surrounding areas were full of life and activity with 1000 employees, their families living in the locality,” he said reminiscing the mill’s happier days. There is no wage revision to the workers since 1992. In other words, the workers are getting wages that were fixed some 30-35 years back while the cost of living had increased manifold. Their salaries were below the minimum wages in Andhra Pradesh, according to Employees Union leader Aravindan.

This was mainly due to the failure of NTC in taking up the modernisation of the mill to sustain or increase its production and also reduce the employee’s workload, making it a viable unit, he observed. Sadly, the modernisation proposal though approved with a capacity of one lakh spindles but kept in abeyance much to the loss of the mill and the employees, he added.

Talking to The Hans India, Aravindan reminded that the then Union Ministers Panabaka Lakshmi (who was from the region) and Santhosh Kumar Gangwar had assured funds for modernisation of the mill. But the Samaikyandhra agitation and the power problem at that time saw the modernisation proposal put on hold.