Two textile mills from French era to close down in Puducherry

After the ongoing conclusion of the Anglo-French Textile factories, the organization has reported the conclusion of Swadeshi and Bharathi Textile plants, the two French time frame material factories from the night of September 30.

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Overseeing Director of the Mills P Priyadarshni in a notification on Tuesday expressed that according to the sets of the administration, the Swadeshi and Bharathi Textile Mills will be shut under the Industrial Disputes Act 1947.

Managing Director of the Mills P Priyadarshni in a notice on Tuesday stated that as per the orders of the government, the Swadeshi and Bharathi Textile Mills will be closed under the Industrial Disputes Act 1947.

Swadeshi cotton mills were the first mill that was started in 1828, while Bharathi textile mills were started in 1892.

After the French left, both the mills were taken over by National Textile Corporation before the Puducherry government took them over in 2005.

The mills have run up losses and the accumulated loss was more than Rs 100 crores.

The Puducherry government has been pumping in money to pay the salaries of the employees and to run the mills.

The production stopped several years ago and the mills were defunct, though some alternate work was being done by the workers off and on.

Now around 300 permanent workers are employed in the mills along with another 270 casual workers.

The salaries and wages of the workers have been pending for nearly 21 months.

The permanent workers, a majority of them above the age of 50, want the mill management to provide them with a good settlement considering their services.

However certain trade unions like AITUC have been demanding that the mills be run by modernizing them since it provided people with employment.

Meanwhile, AIADMK legislator Vayyapuri Manikandan condemned the move of the government to close the mills.