TIRUPUR: Chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami inaugurated a working women hostel built by state industries promotion corporation of India (Sipcot) at Neruperichal in the city through videoconference on Tuesday.This is one of the two state-sponsored hostels in the city which had been lying dormant for about two years after construction. They would start functioning now as two major trade bodies agreed to run them.The newly-opened 1.2-acre facility has 57 rooms, a kitchen, a dining hall, a leisure room, toilets, and a medical room. It can accommodate 570 women.T Sai Lokesh, project officer in Perundurai Sipcot said, “The facility was constructed with our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) fund. It would be run by the Tirupur Exporters’ Association (Tea) now. Employees from other districts and states working in the association’s member units could start using the facility. Also, we will soon build a dormitory for men.”Another Sipcot official said, “Since the facility was not for a commercial purpose but to provide accommodation to employees by charging nominal fees, the department had been struggling to get the things going for the last two years.”The social welfare department had built the other dormitory opposite to Sipcot’s dormitory about one and a half years ago. “The department could not afford to appoint a warden and other requirements to run it. Now, we have entered into a pact with the South India Hosiery Manufacturers’ Association (Sihma) to operate the 60-bedded dormitory,” district social welfare officer I Poongothai said.Tea president Raja M Shanmugham said, “Establishing dormitories and constructing houses for workers are much needed for the knitwear industry to grow faster. ”G Sampath, district general secretary, CITU Tirupur, said, “We welcome the government’s initiative, which was a long demand of trade unions. But it was not enough as more than 6 lakh people are employed in the knitwear cluster and other clusters. They spent a major part of their wages for paying house rent. The government should build more facilities to help them.”

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