238

CHAPTER -VII

IMPACT OF INDUSTRIES ON THE LIFE AND CULTURE

OF THE PEOPLE

The Industrial growth of a district is conditioned by natural resources,

infrastructural facilities, transport and technical know - how. The extent to which

the above has helped building up industries in the district of Thirunelveli and their

impact on the life and culture of the people is vividly discussed here.

Cement, cotton yarn and textiles:

The foremost of such large industries in the district is the M/s. India

Cements Limited, which has two cement plants at Sankar Nagar and

Thazhaiyuthu. There are thirteen textile mills engaged in the production of yarn.

The first spinning mill under cooperative sector was established in the district in

1958 at Pettai near Tirunelveli.1 Most of the other textile mills are situated in

Ambasamudram, Tirunelveli and Nanguneri taluks.

India Cements Limited, sankarnagar is one of the oldest cement plants in

Tamil Nadu under private sector. It is a large scale industry which started its

commercial production in August 1949 with a capacity of about 4.00 lakh tons per

annum and steadily increased the capacity over the years to 10.00 lakh tons per

1. Census of India 1961, District Census Hand Book, Tirunelveli, 1965, p.47.

239

annum cement by 1990-91.2 The plant is located at Thazhaiyuthu, eight km. away

from Tirunelveli town on the Madurai road. At the time of inception, the plant

manufactured cement under wet process only with initial capacity of 350 tons per

day. Products such as ordinary Portland cement and Portland Pozzonona cement

were manufactured.3

The company has embarked on modernisation of its plant with a capacity of

3000 TPD at a cost of Rs.106 crore by which the old wet kilns and the

preclinkerising facilities were replaced by a modern practitioner kiln and

preclinkerising facilities with a computerised control. The Dry plant commenced

its production from July 1990.4 The industry requires 4500 tons of limestone per

day, supplied by the limestone mines located at Thazhaiyuthu, Nanjankulam

limestone mine, Sethurayanpudur Sellianallur, Valliyoor, Vijayapathy

Kudankulam and a sizeable quantity of lime is also purchased from private parties

M/s. Krishna Mines M/s. South India Mines and Minerals Limited About 2000

employees are employed both in factory and mines.5 The plant provides

employment to 1382 and about 607 persons are employed in mines. India

Cements General Employees‟ Union and Cement Manufacturers‟ Association

have been formed in the industry.

2. K.S.K. Velmani, op.cit., p.542.

3. Ibid.,

4. www.indiacements.com

5. Ibid.,

240

Limestone received from different quarries, crushed in the Hammer Mill

and taken through a number of belt conveyors to a linear stockyard. From here

limestone is reclaimed using bridge type reclaimer and taken to mixed limestone

hopper. There are four different hoppers, one for mixed limestone, the second one

for high grade lime stone the third one for Blue dust and Bauxite and the fourth

one for clay. The raw materials proportionately mixed and conveyed to a Polysius

Vertical Roller Mill and ground between the two roller pairs and a grinding table.

The ground material is dried and lifted by kiln exit gases through nozzle ring and

carried to the Dynamic separator. Then it is classified into finished product and

oversize. Oversize material falls directly on the centre of the Grinding Table. The

finished product is separated in an Electostatic Precipitator (ESP). From there it is

pumped into extracted through the Central Chamber of the silo of the 5-Stage

Preheater. The raw meal is calcined to 90 per cent using pulverised coal in the

Precalcinator. The calcined material enters the kiln and clinkerisation is taking

place in the burning zone at a temperature of 1450° C using pulverised coal in the

kiln. The hot clinker is cooled in the Grate Cooler.6 The cooled clinker is taken

through Deep Bucket Conveyor to Clinker silo. From Clinker silo it is discharged

to Rubber Belt Conveyor, gypsum and carried to cement mills. In Cement Mills

clinker, gypsum and flyash are mixed and ground to get Portland Pozzolana

Cement and only with gypsum for Ordinary Portland Cement.

6. Personal Interview with Nanthakumar, Vice-President, India cements, Sankar Nagar, dated 05

June, 2006.

241

The company introduced many welfare schemes for the benefit of its

employees and their families and the expenditure towards employees welfare was

Rs.3.60 crores per annum for both statutory and non-statutory welfare measures.

Welfare measures include housing, medical, recreation club, typewriting and

shorthand institute for the benefit of employees‟ children tailoring institute,

appalam unit, Kalyana mandapam, family planning etc. Company employees

were being covered under Janatha Insurance policy and Group Insurance Scheme.

The company paid the premium of Rs.20000/- per year under Janatha Insurance

policy. Death benefit was covered. The employees drawing above Rs.1000/- p.m.

were covered under Group Insurance scheme. The premium was paid by the

company. Death/Injury benefits were covered. The employees drawing above

Rs.1000/- p.m. were covered under Group Insurance scheme. The premium was

paid by the company. Death/Injury benefits were covered. Primary and higher

secondary schools and polytechnic were run by the Management. There was a

cooperative store maintained both by the employees and management. Provisions,

cosmetic, textiles etc., were supplied at reasonable prices. The main store was

functioning in the old colony and its branches were located in the New colony,

Talaiyuthu and Vadakku Talaiyuthu. A cooperative thrift and credit society was

functioning for the benefit of the workers from 11 November 1968.7

7. K.S.K. Velmani, op.cit., p.544.

242

The family of a worker who died during the service was paid a sum of

Rs.10000/-.8 A sum of Rs.1000/- was paid every month to the family member for

10 years or till the date of retirement of the deceased employee whichever was

earlier. A sum of Rs.1/- was collected from all the employees and Management

made equal contribution and the total amount was paid to the deceased family

members.9

Before the establishment of Cement Industries in the district there were

only hand-loom and weaving industries. The crisis faced by the hand-loom

industry during the early 50‟s made to the Governments, both the Centre as well as

the State, come forward to ease the situation. The Government of India on their

part established10 The All India Handloom Development Cess Fund which made

all mill made cloth to attract cess. The State Government for their share

established “The Tamil Nadu Handloom and Textiles Department” and “The

Tamil Nadu Handloom Development Corporation”. The co-operatives also were

involved in the handloom industry which helped in obtaining supply of yarns and

setting up of looms.11 They were also engaged themselves in the purchase of the

finished products and market them. Many co-optex centres and their sales

emporia in Tirunelvely District were established.

8. Personal Interview with Ravindran, Assistant Manager, India Cement, Sankar Nagar, dated 10

September, 2006. 9. Personal Interview with Vijaya Sekar, Assistant General Manager, India Cement, Sankar

Nagar, dated 17 October, 2005. 10

. B.S. Baliga, History of Handloom Industry in Madras, 1960, p.47. 11

. Ibid.,

243

In 1888 The Coral Mill of Tuticorin was started. This Mill of Tuticorin has

greatly increased in size since it first started and accommodated 73,560 spindles

giving employment to 2000 hands. The Koilpatti Mill was started in the year

1913. There were thirteen power-driven factories in the district owned and

worked by large European exporting firms and mill owners.12 These factories

ginned the greater part of the cotton produced in the district besides kuppes (seed

cotton) imported from other districts. From this time conditions changed rapidly

and small ginners of from 2 to 8 or 10 gins are now found in the villages all over

the cotton growing tracts in the districts.13 This deal with a large proportion of the

cotton produced forced many of the larger factories either to close down or greatly

reduce their machinery. The large exporting firms greatly contributed to the

development of the small village ginners by subsidising in some form, the owners

of these small factories in return for ginning facilities.

The Sun Paper Mill Limited, a private sector company was established on

11 June 1961 a medium scale paper industry at Vadakku Ariyanayakipuram near

Cheranmadevi about 20km. from Tirunelveli and 675 km. from Chennai, in the

year 1964 with a capital investment of Rs.35.12 lakhs. The investment increased

to Rs.910.61 lakh in 1993.14 Newsprint paper is the main product manufacture in

the industry. The industry has an installed capacity of 15000 tonnes per annum

12

. H.R. Pate, Supplement to the Tinnevelly District, Gazetteer, Vol. II, Madras 1917, p.196. 13

. Ibid., 14

. Sun Paper Mill Limited, Magazine, dated 23 June, 1998.

244

and the actual production capacity is 22000 tonnes. During the year 1992.93, the

industry produced finished products to a quantity of 19445 tons.15

The mill procures raw materials such as local country wood (Odai maram)

from various parts of the Tirunelveli, Thoothukkudi and Ramanathapuram

districts, hoisery rags from Tirupur, waste paper from various towns in Tamil

Nadu and Kerala, soft wood pulp imported from U.S.A., Canada, Sweden etc.

Further non-fibre raw materials such as roshin from Uttar Pradesh and Kashmir,

Aluminium sulphate from Ranipet and Mettupalayam, soapstone powder from

Salem, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan, starches from Andhra Pradesh and

Karnataka, dyes from Chennai, sodium silicate from Madurai and Tanjore, sodium

sulphite from Gujarat and Chennai, sodium hydroxide lye and chlorine from

Chennai and Gujarat, Soda ash from Thoothukkudi husk and furnace oil from

Tamil Nadu are purchased for manufacturing paper. During 1993, about 705

workers were employed in the paper mill.16 There are two workers unions namely

Sun Paper Mill Employees Union and Sun Paper Mill Anna Tholilalar Sangam in

the Industry.

Odai17 wood, the primary raw material is chippered into small pieces and

softened with steam and chemicals and refined in heavy duty machines. The pulp

so obtained is admixtured with rag pulp, imported soft wood pulp and slushed

15

. Ibid., 16

. Ibid., 17

. The Botanical name of „odai‟ is „Prosopis Spicigera Linn.

245

waste paper pulp in definite proportions and chemicals and additives are added in

correct quantities to impart strength to the paper. Dyes are added to get proper

shade. This pulp is run on paper machine. In the paper machine dilute pulp slurry

is first dewatered in wire section, then pressed between rollers and wet felt and

finally dried in steam treated dryers. The dried paper is calendered to impart

smooth finish to paper and wound on reeler. Finally the wound paper is rewound

to sizes required by the customer.

The sugar refinery was started in about 1912 at Kulasekherapatanam by the

East India Distilleries Company.18 The produce of the factory which was of two

kinds, soft white sugar and white crystal sugar, was shipped to Tuticorin and from

thence to other parts of Southern India. The crystal sugar was also largely used in

the manufacture of candy.

A highly favourable wind for the six months during South West monsoon

through Shencottai pass which covers 40km. width between North to South and 60

to 70 km. length West to East is a good source of power. Similarly there is a

moderate wind during North-East monsoon (i.e. December, January and

February). It covers the area from Ayakudi in Tenkasi taluk to Ottapidaram in

Thoothukkudi district from West to East. Wind Monitoring stations, have been

installed at Ayakudi, Naduvakurichi, Nettur, Alagiapandiapuram, Thazhaiyuthu

and Marugan Kurichi in the district. All the wind monitoring stations record the

18

. H.R. Pate, op.cit., Vol.II, p. 200.

246

annual average wind velocity more than 20 km/hr. which is required to establish

wind farms. A windmill by name ELGI, Tread India Limited, was established in

1993 at Devarkulam at a cost of Rs.3.5 crore/Megawatt consisting of 28 numbers

with the capacity of 250 kw.19 The total installed capacity is seven Megawatt. The

five MW units were commissioned on 30 September 1993 and the balance two

MW were commissioned during October - November 1993. The total installed

capacity is 19.355 MW under Tamil Nadu Electricity Board and 27.990 MW

under private sector and the units generated are 117 MV by Tamil Nadu

Electricity Board and 40 MV under private sector.20 The non-conventional energy

sources supply uninterrupted power to the areas where WEGs are installed and

they paved way for springing up of new industrial units.

There was a revival of hand-spinning during 1920-21 and for a short time

afterwards as a result of Gandhi‟s propaganda for Khadar, but with the waning of

the enthusiasm for homespum cloth, weaving of Khadar has declined and

practically died out. There were at one time about 300 Adi-Dravida women

spinners in Tisayanvilai, but as there was no market for their yarn, they had to give

up the work.21 But at the commencement of 1930, some three years after the

amalgamation of the Tinnevelly Mills Company Limited, with the Madura Mills

Company Limited, a further extension was carried out and the total number of

19

. Service Number Book, Tamil Nadu Electricity Board, Tirunelveli, p.1. 20

. Ibid., 21

. B.S Baliga, Compendium on History of Handloom Industry in Madras, Government Press, Madras, 1960, p.1

247

spindles at work in the two factories - now employing 1,7000 workers was

increased to sixty thousand. Further developments on a very considerable scale

took place in April 1932.22 In that year this mill intended to house 100,000

spindles. This new mill would eventually provide employment for 3,000

workers.23

The fibre from the upper concave portion of the stem of the palmyra is used

in caning cots, chairs and easy chairs, the same splits being used for the warp and

the woof. Tuticorin is the collecting depot to which palmyra fibres manufactured

in Tinnevelly were sent for export. On an average about 750 tons of bifre are

exported in a month.24 The workers in Tinnevelly are Shavers, Kanner, Konar and

Mohammadan women in several villages of Trichendur and Nanguneri taluks.

They take their produce to Tisaiyanvillai and Udangudi shandies for sale to

collecting agents.

Coarse mats of smaller size are in demand in Calicut for packing fish while

the bigger ones are exported to Bombay. Local merchants collect the mats

themselves from the houses of the workers. The women, mostly Nadars, earn

about 18 paise (3 annes) in two days by weaving mats. Korai mats are also made

in Viravanallur, Viswanathaperi and Palayamkottai and Pettai and

Harikesavanallur are the centres in which mats woven in the other centres are

22

. Ibid., 23

. Ibid., 24

. Assistant Director, Khadi and Village Industries, Tirunelveli Report, dated 17 March, 2006.

248

largely collected for export.25 The industry is the primary occupation of several

thousands of Mohammadans. The Madras market gets a good part of its supply of

mats from this district.

The pressing of oil from gingelly seeds is done on a large scale in Pettai,

Kallidaikurichi, Cheranmahadevi and Tenkasi, Pettai alone has 60 mills (Chekkus)

engaged in the work.26 The local gingelly crop being insufficient, a few merchants

in Pettai import large quantities of the seed from outside the district. Sell the oil

locally or to the merchants themselves for export.

Saris of pure silk both in woof and weft are woven only in Viravanallur by

about 50 Pattunulkarans for less costly saries, cotton yarn is used in the weft. They

get their silk from Kumbakonam and are said to earn a profit of Rs.8 over each

silk sari, including wages.27

Every village with a fair number of Muhammadon families has now a small

factory where beedies are made. It is a cheap smoke in great demand among the

lower classes. The main workers are the women. There are two varieties of beedi.

In Melapalayam about 5,000 Muhammadan families carry on this industry and all

the women folk are engaged in this.28 Palayamkottai, Tinnevelly and Mukkadal in

25

. K.S.K. Velmani, op.cit., p.526. 26

. Ibid., p.528. 27

. H.R. Pate, op.cit., Vol.I, p.217. 28

. Personal Interview with M. Seyad Mohaideen, Assistant Manager, Seyadu Beedi Company, dated 20 June, 2006.

249

Ambasamudram taluk are other important centres. Panagudi is also noted for

several beedi companies.

Among the brass-workers are now found Mohammadans and maravas.

Sankarankoil is noted for its Kudams or waterpots and Pettai and other centres for

these and for ordinary pots and embossed mouthed vessels called Kopras.29

There was a match factory at Tisaiyanvilai. The proprietor, a local

merchant, got his wood from Malabar.30 There is now no place in the district

where this industry is carried on.

Of the baskets made of palmyra leaves and ribs, those popularly known as

Onion baskets were once made only by Muhammadan women, but now Adi-

Dravida and Shananor women also weave them, all along the cocastal villages.

These are collectted and exported to Colombo. Parava women in about 2000

houses in Mavapad make fancy baskets, boxes with square bottoms and circular

mouths, besides toys out of tender palmyra leaves. The chief variety of these

baskets is called Pilapotti.31 They are much in demand in Ceylon. These Pilapottis

are collected in Udangudi and sent to Colombo.32

29

. Secretary, Sankarankoil Brass-Workers, Co-operative Society Limited, Report, dated 20

February, 1995. 30

. H.R. Pate, op.cit., Vol.II, p.202. 31

. Ibid., p.201. 32

. V.S. Padmanabhan, op.cit., p.19.

250

Some dyeing is carried on in Melapalayam and Kilaviraraghavapuram.

There are seven dye-houses, and a few individual weavers dye their yarn

themselves. The dyes used are mostly imported ones, and the chief colours in use

are orange, black, yellow, dark-red, blue-green and blue-black, but of these scarlet

and blue-black are fast. The dyeers keep their formulae secret33. In several

missionary institutions in the district, especially at Vadakkankulam, Idayankudi

and Tuticorin the boarders and girl students are taught lace-making and

embroidery34. Pillow lace made in them was in great demand in Europe before the

war, the industry has been replaced by embroidery and drawn thread work for

which there is now some demand. In the Holy Gross convent at Tuticorin, the girl

students are taught dress-making and needle work.

Taking note of the performance of the industries and the incentives which

are considued necessary for their promotion, the Government stepped in and as a

result, a few public sector enterprises came into the seene for implementing these

policies of the government. These arrangements of the government also helped to

ease out the middlemen and thereby the stronghold of the affluent people over

these industries. The Industrial Policy Resolution 1948 emphasised the role of the

Cottage and Small-Scale Industries in the national economy offering as they do

scope for individual, village or co-operative enterprise and means for the

33

.Personal Interview with A. Mariappan Special Officer, 0846 Melapalayam, Weavers

Co-operative Production and Sales Society, Melapalayam, dated 7-3-2006. 34

. H.R. Pate, op.cit., Vol.-II, p.199.

251

rehabilitation of displaced persons35. These industries particularly suited for the

better utilization of local resources and for the achievement of the local self-

sufficiency in respect of certain types of essential consumer goods, like food and

clothing and agricultural implements. The healthy expansion of Cottage and

Small-Scale Industries depended upon a number of factors, viz. provision of raw

materials, cheap power, technical advice, organized marketing of their produce

and where necessary, safe-guards against intensive competition by large scale

manufacture. The Resolution of Industries Conference has requested the Central

Government to investigate how far and in what manner these industries could be

co-ordinated and integrated with large-scale industries.

The Government of India accepted the recommendations of the conference

and examined how the textile mills could be made complementary to the

handloom industry, which was the country‟s largest and the best-organized cottage

industry. In certain other lines of production, like agricultural implements, textile

accessories, and parts of machine tools, the possibilities was explored to produce

components in a cottage industry and assemble these into their final product at the

factory. It was also to be investigated as to how highly centralized industries

could be centralized with advantage. The Industries Conference also

recommended that Government should establish a Cottage Industries Board for the

fostering the Small-Scale Industries. The Government of India accepting this

35

. Management Researcher, Journal, Vol. XIV, No.4, April-June-2008, p.70.

252

recommendation proposed to create a Cottage and Small-Scale Industries

Directorate within the Directorate General of Industries and Supplies.

The Industrial Policy 1956, stressed the role of Cottage, Village and Small-

Scale Industries in the development of the national economy.36 These provide

immediate large-scale employment and offer a method of ensuring a more

equitable distribution of the national income and facilitated an effective

mobilization of resources-capital and skill, which might otherwise remain

unutilized.

The State of Madras has been following a policy of supporting Cottage,

Village and Small-Scale Industries by restricting the volume of production in the

large-scale sector through taxation or direct subsidies. This continued in the state

policy, which aimed at, ensuring the decentralized sector to acquire sufficient

vitality to be self-supporting and integrating its development with that of large-

scale industry. The state, therefore, concentrated on measures designed to

improve the competitive strength of the small-scale producers, which required

constant improvement in technology to be adopted avoiding, as far as possible,

technological unemployment. Lack of technical and financial assistance and

suitable working accommodation and inadequacy of facilities for repair and

maintenance had been indentified as the serious handicaps of small-scale

producers. A start was made with the establishment of industrial estates and rural

36

. Ibid.,

253

community workshops on the districts to make good these deficiencies. The

extension of rural electrification, and availability of power at prices, which the

workers could afford, had also been of considerable help.37

The Industrial Policy Resolution of 1956 also enunciated that the heavy

industries in public sector might obtain some of their requirements of the lighter

components from private sector, while the private sector, in turn, would rely for

many of its needs in the public sector and the same principle to apply with even

greater force to the relationship between large-scale and small-scale industries.38

The main trust of the new Industrial Policy 1977 had been on effective

promotion of cottage and small-scale industries widely dispersed in the district.39

It had been the policy of the Government that whatever could be produced by

small-scale and cottage industries must only be so produced. For this purpose an

exhaustive analysis of industrial products, had been made to identify items, which

could be produced in the small-scale sector. This list of industries, which would

be exclusively reserved for the small-scale sector, had been significantly expanded

to include more than 500 items as compared to about 180 items earlier. The list

was to be continually reviewed so that capacity creation did not lag behind the

requirements of the economy.40

37

. http://www.smallindustryindia.com/policies/iiphtm 38

. Ibid., 39

. C. Suryanarayana, V. Krishnamohan, Small Industry Development in India, New Delhi, 2005

p.3. 40

. J. Satyanarayana, The New Industrial Policy and Its Impact on India’s Industrial Economy,

254

The policy measure for the promotion of small-scale industries of the

district included effective financial and marketing support. In order to provide

effective financial support for promotion of small-scale industries and cottage and

village industries, the Industrial Development Bank of India had taken steps to set

up a separate wing to deal exclusively with the credit requirements of this sector.41

It was to coordinate, guide and monitor the entire range of credit facilities offered

by other institutions for the small and cottage sector. Banks were also expected to

earmark a specified proportion of their total advances for promotion of small

village and cottage industries in the district.

Similarly, growth of the small-scale and cottage industries sector had been

trend mainly for want of satisfactory marketing arrangement for their products.

For this, certain measures, such as purchase, preference and reservation for

exclusive purchase by government departments and public sector undertakings had

been adopted to support the marketing of their products.

In each, district only one agency called the District Industries Centre has

been set up to deal with all the requirements of small and village industries. These

include economic investigation of the district‟s raw material and other resources,

supply of machinery and equipment, provision of raw materials, arrangement for

credit facilities, and effective set-up of marketing and sale for quality control,

research and extension. The centre was expected to establish close linkage with

Hyderabad, 1996, p.55. 41

. Ibid.,

255

the development block on the one hand and with specialized institutions, like

Small Industries Service Institutes, on the other. It was the intention of the

Government to extend its important organizational pattern to the entire district

soon. The financial assistance given to small and cottage industries under the

Rural Industries Programme was to be extended to the entire district in the

country.

As per the Industrial Policy 1980, in order to boost the development of

Small-Scale Industries and to ensure their rapid growth, the Government decided

to increase the limit of investment in the case of small-scale units from Rs.10 lac

to Rs.20 lac, that in the case of tiny units from Rs.1 lac to Rs.2 lac, and that in case

of ancillaries from Rs.15 lac to Rs.25 lac.42

This would eliminate the tendency to circumvent the present limit by

understating the value of machinery and equipment, falsification of accounts or

resort to „benami‟ units. The enhancement of the limit in terms of investment in

plants and machinery had been expected to help the genuine small-scale units

particularly, those being set up by young and technically qualified entrepreneurs,

to come up and to facilitate long over-due modernization of many of the existing

small-scale units.

42

. S. Krishnamurthy, Small Scale Industries : Policy Rules and Regulations, New Delhi, 2002, p.25.

256

For financial support to small scale units the government purposed to

strengthen the existing arrangements and made such changes as might be

necessary to facilitate the availability of credit to the growing units in the small-

scale sector. Besides, it also continued the reservation of items for small-scale

industries continued to be in force for the growth of small-scale industries. The

government also created buffer stocks for critical inputs, which were often

difficult to obtain. For this, the small industries development corporations in the

center were to be utilized. One such center was established at Pettai near

Tirunelveli.43

The Tamil Nadu Small Industries Corporation Limited an undertaking of

the Government of Tamil Nadu, established its furniture and engineering works at

Pettai near Tirunelveli in the year 1961. It commenced its production on 26

January 1961. It is engaged in the manufacture of standard items of furniture

required by Government Departments, public institutions, etc. The engineering

division undertakes manufacture of general engineering and light fabricated

items44.

Nellai Small Scale Industries Association popularly known as „NEISTIA‟

was started in 1979. The object of the association is to represent the problems

43

. Ibid., 44

. Deputy Manager (Casting) Tamilnadu Small Industries Corporation Limited, Madras, Report dated 14 November, 1995.

257

faced by the small industries to the authorities, to conduct seminars regarding

investment pattern, technology transfer, exports, imports etc.

State Industries Promotion Co-operation of Tamilnadu Limited, (SIPCOT) :

SIPCOT, a public limited company wholly owned by the Government of

Tamilnadu is playing a prominent role in the promotion and development of

medium and major industries in the district. Thirunelveli district is an industrially

developing industry in Tamilnadu.

SIPCOT extends Terms loan to new medium and large scale units whose

project cost is below Rs.3 crore and existing medium and large scale units

embarking on expension diversification / modernisation involving project cost not

exceeding Rs. 5 lakhs.45

SIPCOT effers loan up to Rs.9 lakhs. New units set up in Thirunelveli

District are eligible for concessional finance. So far two units in Thirunelveli

District are assisted by Sipcot.

It is well understood that the major industries of this District are cement

Industry, Textile Industry, Paper Mill, Wind Mill, Sugar Mill. Apart from the

major industries a number of small scale industries like Beedi Companies, Pottery

making, Model Carpentry workshop, Mate weaving, Handlooms, Brick Works,

45

. Manager, State Industries Promotion of Tamil Nadu Ltd., Chennai, Report dated 6 December

1993, and District Industries Centre, Tirunelveli district, Action Plan from 1992-93 to 1996-97, p.5.

258

and Cane Furniture manufacture are flourishing in different villages of this

district.

As per the records available major industries provided employment

opportunities to the people of this district. The sincerity the involvement of the

hard work and the labourers clearly by show their involvement in the work and

the increase of the production of the industries. The products of the above said

industries were sent to different countries by which the economy of the country

could be increased remarkably. The quality of the product of these industries has

enhanced the price, though not highly attractive to the consumers of the other

countries.

Like the major industries the small scale industry and Beedi companies,

Pottery making, Model Carpentry Work shop, Mat weaving, Handlooms, Brick

works cane furniture manufacture. Provided different types of work to the

economically poor people belonging to the various communities of the District.

Madurai, July 2 (PTI): The Rs 14,000-crore Special Economic Zone at

Nanguneri in Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu could take off any time as the

minimum required land for the project has been acquired.

With Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments department

handing over the final 166.80 hectares of temple land for the SEZ, acquisition of

1,000 hectares of land has been completed, official sources here said.

259

The project was proposed by NDA government headed by A B Vajpayee.

The officials of the Advanced Technology Manufacturing and Assembly

City (ATMAC), formed by US-based INFAC Management Corporation for

executing the project, would meet the District Collector G Prakash shortly, the

sources said.

The SEZ would have manufacturing, design and assembling facilities.

Modern infrastructure facilities and amenities are expected to attract workforce

from across the globe.

Makers of electronic and telecommunications components, pharmaceutical

goods, light and precision engineering items and information technology

companies are expected to set up units in the SEZ.

The Tamil Nadu government would allocate Rs 700 crore for creating

infrastructure facilities. Besides, there would be water treatment plant,

telecommunication centre along with roads of international standards.

According to sources, Singapore-based Jurong International has submitted

a conceptual master plan, according to which industrial zone would include ready-

built and custom-built factories and units of multinational corporations.

As they generally suffered in the beginning due to non availability of the

any work in this district, these small scale industries gave them permanent job

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which helped them to increase their daily income. They could also use their spare

time in engaging in different types of work. Through their daily income was not

very high they were very well satisfied with their work. On the whole the people

who were working in the major and small scale industries, are satisfied themselves

in all respects and they feel that they are the part and parcel of the present

condition of the district.