The Hindu Business Line : ‘Travancore Rayons revival certain as CM clears hurdles’

Getting started
Joint application to be filed before March 31 in High Court.
Promoter group to pay Rs 5 cr to settle dues.
Plant to start with cellophane, pulp production.

G.K. Nair

Kochi, Feb. 28 Revival of the sick Travancore Rayons Ltd (TRL) at nearby Perumbavoor, which has remained closed for over 7 years, has become certain with the removal of all hurdles at a meeting held by the Chief Minister with all concerned parties on Thursday. Promoters were given the go-ahead to re-open the unit.

The chief minister has asked the Industry Minister, Mr Elamaram Kareem, and Managing Director of the promoter company, Mr Joseph Varghese, to take all steps to re-open the company, official sources told Business Line.

The chief minister has also said that the decision would be announced at an all-party meeting, they said.

A final agreement with the promoters would be signed soon, they said, adding that a joint application would be filed before March 31 in the Kerala High Court, which had stayed the winding up orders of the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction and Appellate Authority for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction on a request made by the State Government.

The State Cabinet had approved the revival package put forward by the promoters and Government orders were also issued in this connection about a year ago. Signing of a final agreement was delayed after a vernacular daily had raised some allegations about the proposal.

Transparency call

At this juncture, the promoters had urged the government to come out with a statement that the entire process of selecting the promoter was transparent. The Chief Minister, who wanted the reopening of the unit before last Onam festival, has now convened the meeting to clear all the differences of opinion and has asked all concerned to speed up the revival process.

In fact, the promoters had already entered into an agreement with the trade unions as well as with the banks and financial institutions for a one-time settlement. Probably, for the first time, all the trade unions affiliated to different political parties came together to support the promoter.

Settling dues

Mr Joseph Varghese said: “We have already arrived at an agreement with the banks and financial institutions to settle all the outstanding dues by paying Rs 5 crore, apart from reaching an agreement with the trade unions. Thus, we have done everything that we are required to do”.

The promoters are ready to go ahead with the revival of the company as per the earlier agreement that the Government had entered into with the Coimbatore-based group, minus the demand for sales tax concessions and the allotment of 300 acres of forest land.

He said that as per the company’s revival package, it would invest Rs 250 crore in three years. It would initially start operations of the plants manufacturing cellophane and pulp. Manufacturing of rayons would be taken up in the second stage, he said. Besides, a cluster of units would come up in the compound to be set up by interested parties.

The company is under lay-off for around seven years now and about 1,200 workers are without wages.

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