Three state-run textile mills reopen after 30 years

MUMBAI - Textiles Minister Dayanidhi Maran here Tuesday re-opened three textile mills, which were lying shut for three decades and have been revived at a cost of Rs.73 crore.

The mills, owned by the National Textile Corp (NTC), are Tata Mills, Podar Mills and India United Mill No.5, all located in central Mumbai which was once the hub of the country’s textile industry.

“The revival and modernisation of the NTC mills has been due to a Rs.5,267-crore modified revival scheme. It has provided 12 acres land for rehabilitating workers,” Maran said.

The revival of the mills is part of the 100-day agenda of Maran’s ministry and one of the major tasks before the NTC, which is modernising 22 mills across the country. Work on 17 mills has been completed.

The three mills were among the textile units that were shut down or sold — many to be replaced by malls, multiplexes or skyscrapers — after labour troubles crippled the industry in the city in the early 1980s.

A vast majority of the mills were located in central Mumbai with smoking chimneys and sirens regularly announcing the start or end of shifts, and the area was known as Girangaon, meaning “village of mills”.

Maran said that with the support of the central government, the NTC has now emerged from the red and is charting a new course.

The minister also said the government has implemented a minimum support price (MSP) for cotton, which had benefited growers, particularly in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra, a major cotton growing state.

The government is now also taking steps to modernise ginning units, he added.