The Hindu Business Line : `Dyers strike may drive export biz out of Tirupur'

Tirupur-based knitwear exporters fear the mass production stoppage resorted to by the textile wet processing industry for the past two days is potent enough to drive export business out of Tirupur.

The direct implication of last month's Madras High Court ruling asking the dyeing and bleaching industry in the knitwear town to bear forthwith a specific penal levy for every litre of trade effluent discharged by them on a daily basis from this month would mean the dyeing units would have to pay an average penalty amount of Rs 80 lakh every day for the next seven months. This staggering penal levy will wipe out the processing industry, the knitwear industry sources in Tirupur apprehend.

HC Ruling

(It may be recalled that the High Court in its latest review of the Tirupur dyeing industry's case on `zero' effluent discharge last month gave a seven-month deadline, i.e till end July 2007, for the 700-odd dyeing and bleaching units — mostly coming under the common effluent treatment plant projects — for implementing the `zero' discharge norm. The interim order of the court also awarded a fine at the rate of six, eight and 10 paise respectively per litre of effluent discharged by them starting from this month till end-July 2007, in addition to Rs 44.50 crore cash compensation from the dyers for the loss of ecology and compensation to farmers who lost agriculture by the trade effluent discharged in the past.)

Investments

"Once export business goes out of Tirupur, it will be difficult to bring it back," said Mr A. Sakthivel, President of the Tirupur Exporters Association (TEA), who is also apprehensive that the current crisis faced by the knitwear processing houses will backfire on investments that have gone into the forward and backward integration projects initiated in recent times by the exporting companies. Mr Sakthivel puts the amount of new investments chartered by the knitwear industry including the greenfield spinning and knitting projects around Rs 25,000 crore.

Ancillary industries

Talking to Business Line, Mr Sakthivel said the indefinite production stoppage by the dyeing and bleaching units may also impact other sectors of the textile industry including spinning which is already facing ` a slow-down in business'. The stir would also affect about five lakh workers employed in the industry as it would slowly cripple the functioning of several ancillary industries associated with the knitwear industry.

The TEA has written to the Prime Minister and the Union Finance Minister besides the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister urging both the Central and the State Governments to implead in the case through a revision petition in the High Court considering the fact that already the State Government has offered to support the alternative projects to tide over the effluent issue faced by the Tirupur dyers.

More Stories on : Knitwear & Hosiery | Exports & Imports | Tamil Nadu | Pollution

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page