The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Coimbatore News : ‘Include conventional grinders in government scheme'

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Tuesday, Jun 28, 2011
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Coimbatore

‘Include conventional grinders in government scheme'

70 per cent of grinder manufacturers here were in the conventional grinder sector

COIMBATORE: Wet-grinder manufacturers here have appealed to the State government to include conventional grinders, too, in the free wet-grinder distribution scheme. Now, the government plans to purchase only tabletop model of grinders.

Convenor of Wet-grinder and Accessories Manufacturers' Federation, P. Maruthachalam, told The Hindu on Monday that about 70 per cent of grinder manufacturers here were involved in the manufacture of the conventional model.

During the last three months, grinder sales had slumped expecting the government to distribute wet grinders.

184 men per unit

As many as 184 workers were needed to make one unit of conventional grinder. A boost to tabletop grinders through the government scheme would affect the employment of these workers.

Federation

Nearly 1,000 manufacturers of grinders and accessories here had formed the federation to press their demand.

They said the government should modify the scheme to include conventional grinders, too.

J. James, president of Tamil Nadu Association of Cottage and Tiny Enterprises, said in a release that the government plan to purchase tabletop grinders alone would benefit only the larger units, and would hit operations at the micro industries here.

The government proposes to purchase 1.83 crore grinders in a phased manner. Tabletop grinders were made of moulded parts and hence, manpower requirement in the sector was not high.

However, there were several workers who were dependent on the conventional grinder industry.

Since the manufacturing cost of a tabletop and that of a conventional grinder was almost the same, the government should procure both models for inclusion into its scheme, he said.

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