Amid the continuing shortage of clay as the raw material and lack of permission to source it locally, one more tile manufacturing unit with around 200 employees on its rolls, has been closed down at Feroke. The factory, Malabar Tiles Works, was one of the seven major tile units set up a century ago.
The factory, along with other six units, had laid off its workers a few months ago, unable to find a solution to the issue. The owners of the manufacturing units said that obtaining clay from neighbouring States was a costly affair and no one would be able to survive in the industry depending on the limited stock at a high rate.
Though the State government had earlier promised to conduct a satellite survey in Feroke and surrounding areas to demarcate a suitable clay mining area and permit mining, no steps have been taken in this regard. It was after three rounds of discussions with the Chief Minister and officials in the Revenue department that the decision to conduct a satellite survey was taken.
Leaders of the All Kerala Tile Manufacturers’ Association (AKTA) say tedious governmental proceedings are likely to hit the satellite survey programme too, sending the industry into a tailspin. Two more tile units, currently under lay off, are on the verge of total closure, which will be a blow to the ailing industry of the city, they say.
M.A. Abdu Rahiman, State general secretary of the AKTA, says the Mining and Geology Department is yet to visit the site to take stock of the issue. Though the raw material for the functioning of the units is abundantly available in Feroke and surrounding areas, the tile manufacturers are being compelled to source it from Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, he rues.
On the other hand, official sources confirm that steps are under way to conduct a study on making use of desilted soil from various dams in the State for tile manufacture. The State Cabinet will discuss the proposal in detail next Wednesday and the possibilities in desilting the Mangalam dam in Palakkad will be considered in the first phase, they add.
