When the Textile Centre at Nadukani near Taliparamba was inaugurated in 2010, it was expected to be a hub of textile manufacturing activities and promote the industry in the district. But nine years after the opening of the centre, the huge sum of money that was spent on developing it and attract manufacturers has gone waste.
Now, a large area of vacant land and high-rise buildings that were constructed keeping in mind the needs of the textile sector remain unused and look abandoned at the centre.
Spread over 50.18 hectares, the textile centre is promoted by the Kerala Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (Kinfra) under the Central government’s Textile Centre Infrastructure Development Scheme (TCIDS). It is one of the 17 projects under TCIDS in the country, which was developed at an estimated cost of ₹45 crore. The State government contributed ₹20 crore for taking over the land. Apparently, there are now only four units related to the textile sector. This despite the availability of common facilities such as effluent treatment plant, dyeing plant and hazardous waste disposable arrangements. Besides, there are infrastructure facilities including roads, water treatment plant, electrical line, weaving centre, and standard design factory among others.
Formers president of the Malabar Chamber of Commerce C.V. Deepak said the domestic textile market was not getting enough attention. He said the domestic industry faced huge competition from other countries, especially from China and Vietnam, and because of it investors were reluctant to promote the domestic industry. He said it was important to support weavers and encourage them to introduce value-addition in their products to survive in the industry. “Cooperative societies that were dependent on export collapsed when they did not get enough orders from abroad. Because they failed to position their products in the domestic market,” he said.
JiJu Vijayan, an exporter from Kannur, said labour cost and the shift from handloom to powerloom had hit the textile industry here. Now the trend was to give the yarn to places like Erode and Tirupur in Tamil Nadu and get the work done there because of cheap labour and production cost.
“The government should come up with a plan to encourage weavers and the industry,” he said.
