Modern textile cluster makeover for closed spinning mill at Tirtol: Min

Kendrapada: Shree Sarala Weavers Cooperative Spinning Mill at Tirtol in Jagatsinghpur district, which has been closed for more than two decades, has received a shot in the arm.On Thursday, minister of state (independent charge), industries, skill development & technical education, Sampad Chandra Swain said the state govt has decided to establish a modern and labour-centric textile and textile industry cluster on the mill property.As the first step to the reopening of the closed spinning mill, as per the order of chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi, Odisha Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (IDCO) has recently given Rs 23 crore to the handloom and knitting industries department to get possession of the mill property. The land will be kept in IDCO’s ‘land bank’, and a new textile and textile industry cluster will be set up on the same site. “Setting up of industries will create wider employment opportunities in the local area and boost the industry in the state and contribute to the economic growth of the district as well as the state,” said the minister, Swain, in Paradip on Thursday.The 44-year-old Shree Sarala Spinning Mill in Tirtol is shut for more than 26 years. Established in 1982, at the cost of Rs 4.5 crores, the spinning mill was the only industry in Tirtol area. Around 1,200 workers were working in the mill till it was closed after the super cyclone in 1999. Many valuable machines, tools, including a big generator, are now rusting in the mill. All the workers of the mill have been suffering from subhuman conditions of living for a long time. They don’t have a proper source of income. The closure of the mill cost them their only source of livelihood. The workers have been lamenting over their unpaid gratuities and terminal benefits.“At least 25 workers have died due to lack of medical health care they suffered and lack of other essentials of life,” said Parikhita Rout (65), a former worker of the spinning mill.The closure of the spinning mill at Tirtol was a major political issue in the last polls in the district. “We had promised the people of the district to reopen the spinning mill during the last election, and now we are going to fulfil our vow by reviving the closed spinning mill to increase employment opportunities,” added minister Swain.