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Maharashtra government puts mill land sale on hold

Renni Abraham

The Maharashtra government on Monday decided to put on hold its plans to sell off the nine textile mills run by the Maharashtra State Textile Corporation.

Closure of the mills would deliver more than 7000 workers unemployed. Textile minister Satish Chaturvedi said: "We held discussions with the trade unions affiliated to these mills and have decided to put on hold the plan to sell off them. We are now exploring the option of finding private parties who would be keen to run the mills."

A government official said: "The mills entail a daily cost of Rs 1.5 million each for maintenance operations. The option before the government was either to close down the mills or to absorb the losses to the tune of Rs 600 to 650 million annually. Because of the poor financials of the state, the government has for the last six months been seeking to close the mills."

The proposal lying before the government sought to dispose off the mill land and offer a voluntary retirement package for the employees, on the lines of Gujarat. The estimated cost for the plan is Rs 2.50 billion.

The mills in question include the Western India Mill (Bombay), Kamleshwar Mill (Nagpur), Devgiri Textile Mill (Aurangabad), Pulgaon Cotton Mills (Pulgaon), Pratap Mills (Amerner), Vijay Mills (Badnera), Empress Mills, Narsingh Giri Mills (Solapur) and Shahu Chatrapati Mills (Kolhapur).

"A revival proposal estimated to cost Rs 1.50 billion was rejected by the government as there was little possibility of the mills coming back to black," the official said.

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