Tirupur Apparel Park in tatters

Majority of the 100 sheds constructed on the 100-acre park are remaining unused for a long time.

December 03, 2016 12:34 pm | Updated 12:39 pm IST - Tirupur:

Majority of the buildings in the Tirupur Apparel Park are in a dilapidated condition. Photo: R. Vimal Kumar

Majority of the buildings in the Tirupur Apparel Park are in a dilapidated condition. Photo: R. Vimal Kumar

The condition of the Tirupur Apparel Park, set by Tamil Nadu Adi Dravidar Housing and Development Corporation with much fanfare exactly two decades ago with much fanfare, is pathetic.

Majority of the 100 sheds constructed on the 100-acre park are remaining unused for a long time.

Many of the structures are in a dilapidated condition.

Street lights have not been functioning for close to five years, and there is no water supply from the tank constructed.

“With the entire street lights dead, anti-social elements and tipplers are enjoying ‘unrestricted’ entry onto the campus during night hours,” said G. S. Arumugam, a former government school headmaster who is running a knitting unit at the park from the beginning, and Sudesh Kannan, another textile unit owner using the park for two decades.

Other unit owners said that as the toilets were not having water facility, labourers were hesitant to travel almost 10 km from city to take up employment in units inside the park.

When contacted, TAHDCO District Manager B. Sundaravadivel told The Hindu that only 74 of the 100 sheds in the park got sold for setting up knitting units.

“Of the 74 units, only around 30 are now functioning,” he admitted.

On poor patronage, he said that as the park was outside the city limits, not many people showed interest to set up units.

“We will take up the issue of street lights and water supply with higher authorities,” he said.

R. Kumar, a former Uthukuli Town Panchayat Union chairman and district secretary of Tamil Nadu Untouchablity Eradication Front, one of the activists who want the park rejuvenated, accused the authorities of destroying the project.

“Selection of beneficiaries itself has been plagued by corrupt practices and nepotism.

“Those with real aptitude for entrepreneurship have not been selected which caused the downfall. With unused sheds in a poor state, no new entrepreneur is going to join the venture,” he said.

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