The Sircilla Textile Park has been closed temporarily. Cloth manufacturers, who were operating weaving units in the park, took the decision, stating that they were not getting remunerative prices for the cloth they produced. The park was closed on January 2.
A drop in the prices of raw materials in the form of cloth in the national market is cited as the main reason for the park’s closure. This was due to a crisis in the textile sector. Manufacturers said that a huge quantity of cloth has been stocked in the country due to a lack of exports, adding that this stock had grown ever since the Russia-Ukraine war.
Cloth manufacturers, who used to get Rs 14 to Rs 15 per meter of cloth, could now not get more than Rs 12. Weavers, already in trouble after the increase in yarn prices and chemicals, closed the park, unable to bear further losses. Moreover, polyester cloth stocks worth Rs 25 crore were already in the park.
About 1,500 to 2,000 people are employed in the park, established on 60 acres between Sarampalli and Baddenapalli of Thangallapalli mandal in 2002-03. All of them lost employment with the closure of the park. Besides 165 industrial units, 27 commercial units were being operated in it. In 115 units, 1,475 modern Rapier looms were used to weave cloth.
Earlier, manufacturers used to depend only on private orders. To employ weavers, the past State government had given Bathukamma sarees, Ramzan, and Christmas orders to the operating units from the park. Besides government orders, power bills loomed from 2010 to 2014 and 2015 to 2020 were reimbursed.
As they got government orders, manufacturers stayed away from private orders. They are now facing troubles as private orders were also very few. Earlier, Sircilla cloth was supplied to Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Ahmedabad, Kerala and Delhi. This is now confined to only Surat of Gujarat and Bhiwandi of Maharashtra. Speaking to Telangana Today, Textile Park Cloth Manufacturers Association President Annaldas Anil said the park was temporarily closed due to the drop in prices of cloth. Informing that cloth manufacturing units in other places of the country were already closed, he said they had closed the units, unable to bear further losses.
Informing that Bathukamma saree bills worth Rs 150 crore were pending with the government, he wanted the government to provide a subsidy on power since the cloth was being weaved on power looms. In Bhiwandi and other places, power was supplied at Rs 3 per unit. However, Rs 8 was being charged here.
He said the issues would be discussed with officials in a meeting scheduled for Monday.
