The Hindu : Textile hartal total at Chennimalai

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Dec 03, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Tamil Nadu

Textile hartal total at Chennimalai

By Our Staff Reporter

ERODE DEC. 2. A Textile hartal called by the Erode Handloom Cloth Merchants Association and 25 allied trade bodies, protesting against an ``abnormal hike in yarn prices,'' evoked mixed response here today. The protest was total at Chennimalai, a weaving town in the district. Textile merchants also observed fast in front of the Erode municipal office.

Textile manufacturing units, shops, dyes and chemical shops, textile processing and baling units here were closed. But, many textile dealers dealing in cloth and readymade garments and shops selling mill and handloom cloth were functioning normally.

The weekly textile shandy assembled as usual and all shops in the Municipal Abdul Gani textile market functioned briskly.

But, all handloom and powerloom owners closed down their worksheds at Chennimalai. In support of textile producers, all shops dealing in textiles, grocery were closed. Cinemas at Chennimalai suspended morning and afternoon shows.

At Bhavani, almost all carpet-weaving units remained closed.

The president of the Erode Handloom Cloth Merchants Association, R.S. Nataraja Mudaliar, who called the hartal and fasting, said about 40 per cent of the textile manufacturing and trading units in Erode responded. He said that the textile industry was already hit by the levy of CENVAT, and the ``abnormal hike'' in yarn prices ruined it. Most of the powerloom owners could not operate their looms and thousands of workers were also affected.

Protest at Komarapalayam

Our Salem Staff Reporter reports:

Powerlooms at Tiruchnegode, Pallipalayam and Komarapalayam fell silent today.

About 50,000 powerlooms are operating in these centres in which about 1.5 lakh workers are employed.

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