Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Bail-out package for TTP sought

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Titanium Officers’ Association has sought urgent infusion of working capital or a package by the government to bail out the ailing Travancore Titanium Products (TTP). Legislators from the district have submitted a memorandum to the Chief Minister seeking his intervention to overcome the crisis.

TTP sources say that an assistance of Rs.5 crore or Rs.10 crore, as being considered by the government, will not solve the crisis as it will be enough only to pay the salary of the staff for two months.

A package on the lines announced for Fertilisers and Chemicals Travancore (FACT) is needed to retain TTP as a public sector undertaking. “The government should merge TTP with KMML [Kerala Minerals and Metals Limited] or hand it over to private companies rather than accumulating loss,” says an official.

The TTP is housed in 84 acres of land at Kochuveli near here and most of the land is on lease.

Aversion to value-added products, competition from the private sector and China, lack of a tamper-proof packing system and decision of paint companies to go for rutile grade titanium are costing TTP dearly.

Its machinery has become obsolete and there has hardly been any diversification in the 60-year-old firm since 1973, TTP sources told The Hindu recently. Many big buyers of titanium dioxide, including leading paint companies, are sidelining TTP. Chinese pigment is mixed with the final product of TTP by those indulging in adulteration. Sources say that TTP does not have a tamper-proof packing system and the conventional method of packing makes it easier for adulteration. The TTP has a capacity to produce 60 tonnes of titanium dioxide on a daily basis in the existing plant.

With the financial crisis worsening, the Rs.1.40 crore meant for paying the interest arrears of a Rs.60-crore loan taken from Federal Bank and Union Bank for setting up a pollution control project was diverted to pay the salary of the staff in March.

Only the structure of a Rs.32-crore neutralisation plant being set up as part of the steps to check pollution has been completed. TTP sources say the contractor had been given Rs.15.5 crore. The work has come to a standstill as the company has been unable to pay the balance amount.

The imported machinery of the acid recovery plant, the last to be set up as part of the project, is lying in the open and is getting ruined.

At present, there are 943 employees, including 115 officers. The decision of the government to reduce the staff strength to 750 has led to confusion. The government is yet to announce details in this regard nor has it offered a voluntary retirement scheme.

The last 20 months, after the Left Democratic Front came to power, saw three Managing Directors at the helm of affairs in TTP. Eight employees of the Kerala State Industrial Products Trading Corporation had been shifted to TTP. The employees have not been able to step onto the TTP premises following opposition from unions. The salary of these staff has to be paid by TTP.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Next season of ‘Star Singer’
‘Government failed to tackle farm crisis’
Local bodies utilise 87.37% of Plan funds
No disruption in drug supply: KMSCL
Pensioners criticise proposal
Bail-out package for TTP sought
Thrust on housing projects
Web site of Volvo Ocean Race launched

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu