Employees of Comtrust Weaving Factory are hopeful that the State government will fast-track the takeover of the plant in the wake of a visit of a team of officials from the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC) to examine its properties in the city last week. The team is expected to submit a report to the government within a month.
Union leaders urged the visiting officials to give high priority to the repair and renovation of the century-old buildings as some of them had collapsed unable to withstand the monsoon fury.
A union leader told The Hindu on Sunday that the officials were requested to take steps to avoid further decay of the properties. They were also told to expedite the proposal to set up a modern weaving unit and supporting units and tap the tourism potential of the heritage structures.
The officials were reported to have held parleys with the representatives of the management too over the modalities of acquisition. A senior KSIDC official told The Hindu that the assets and liabilities of the factory were examined, apart from the practicality of its revival.
The visit follows Presidential assent for a Bill that proposed government takeover of the colonial-era institution earlier this year.
It enabled the government to also take over the parcels of land on the factory premises already sold to private parties.
The KSIDC reportedly could not intervene soon after because one of them had filed a case in the High Court and managed to get a stay on the acquisition proceedings. Now, it is learnt that the government is planning to file an appeal to get the stay vacated.
