Mills making Korai mats in and around Musiri town are finding themselves in a piquant situation.
Since the decline in cultivation of korai grass in the surrounding areas due to dry conditions has resulted in paucity of raw material, the machinery that many purchased with bank loans has remained unutilised for a year now.
Only 30% to 40% of the nearly 300 mills are able to function at present. But even for them, the going is quite tough, industry sources say.
A bundle of korai grass with which a maximum of 17 to 18 mats can be made costs ₹1,700 at present. Sustaining production will be viable only if a mat is sold between ₹120 and ₹130 to meet the operational costs and labour expenses. But, though the supply is less, there is no market readiness to absorb the escalated cost of the finished product, says Kumarasamy, owner of a mill near Vadugapatti.
As far as the customers are concerned, they find the double-fold increase in the cost of the mats over the last few years as unreasonable, but the reality is that even the remaining mills will have to shut down operations if there is any further decline in the cultivation of korai grass, he said.
Though the Cauvery has gone dry, the cultivators say the main reason for the crisis is the decline in pressure with which water used to enter the canal that feeds the fields after indiscriminate mining of sand from the river bed.
Not less than 5,000 families are dependent on the korai grass cultivation and work in the mills. Considering their plight, the government should construct a check-dam across the river for restoring the constant water flow into the irrigation canal, Sukumar, a mill-owner said. He had to scale down production, despite having 40 machines, due to paucity of raw material.
Many small-scale mill owners have already locked their units due to inability to pay dues for the loans they had taken for the equipment and have gone to Karur and Tirupur to work in the textile industries for daily wages.
Cultivators are also helpless. A few years ago, two crops of korai grass used to be raised in a year. Now, raising even a single crop has become a question mark, they lament.
