The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Handlooms still silent at Anakaputhur

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, May 04, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Handlooms still silent at Anakaputhur

K. Manikandan

Layers of cobwebs replace colourful strings of fibre and a deafening silence pervades the hall

ABANDONED: The Anakaputhur centre of Kancheepuram Cooperative Intensive Handloom Development Project. — Photo : A. Muralitharan

TAMBARAM : Till about 10 years ago, the clatter of shuttle and pedal reverberated inside the hall full of handlooms. Colourful strings of fibre ready to be woven into beautiful fabric were found everywhere.

Today, the clatter is replaced by a deafening silence and the colourful strands by layers of cobweb over the looms. At Anakaputhur near Pallavaram, the Kancheepuram Cooperative Intensive Handloom Development Project stands as a witness to the downfall of a cottage industry in this suburb.

The now-defunct Anakaputhur centre of this government project originally started as a private company — M. Naraindas Handloom Weaving Factory— in 1961.

It was opened by former President R.Venkataraman, who was Minister for Industries and Labour in the then State Government.

Following the death of its owner and inability of the company to run the factory, the State Government took over it.

It was run as a cooperative society and as Anakaputhur was a weavers' hamlet, there was no shortage of skilled resources.

But problems began in 1990s, residents of Anakaputhur recall.

Unable to face the competition ushered by in liberalisation, most weaver groups were nearly thrown out of their vocation.

With Government support to cooperative societies and projects such as these on the decline, the centre began to crumble on all fronts. Lack of maintenance and dwindling cash support, all combined together, took this project to the verge of closure, the residents say.

Officials of the Handlooms Department say the most important reason for the project to fail was the enormous amount of dues it accumulated in the past decade or so. Weavers too began to look out for higher income jobs.

Funding agencies, including those of the government, completely stopped extending financial support to the project, officials add.

Considering the background for its present condition, very little could be done to put the Anakaputhur centre back on rails, they say. However, the residents feel that the Anakaputhur centre could be rejuvenated with the assistance of the Union Ministry of Textiles.

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