A plea to revive the Sri Krishnarajendra Mills, popularly as K R Mills, was made in Mysore today by MLA and former Minister Tanveer Sait.
The once prestigious K R Mills, established by Maharaja Krishnaraja Wadiyar IV in 1929, then on the outskirts of Mysore, to provide employment to Mysoreans, has remained shut for the last couple of years.
The mills, run by the state government, was subsequently sold to private parties and after a few years was shut down due to various reasons.
Inaugurating a divisional-level workshop on the new textile policy 2013-18 organised by the State Handloom and Textile Ministry, Sait recalled the glory of the mills that it once enjoyed employing as many as 10,000 workers. But, various factors caused its shutdown.
He said, efforts should be made to revive the mills, located on the Mysore-Bangalore highway. Its revival would be a fitting tribute to the Maharaja who put Mysore on the road to modern industrial development by establishing a number of industries in the state.
"When global companies are setting up textile industries in India as the required raw materials and other inputs are available, it is time to think of reviving our own textile mills which are now defunct," he said, citing the example of the K R Mills. He also demanded a probe into the alleged sale of 71-acre land of the mills for a paltry Rs 7.10 crore.
"Davanagere was known as the textile city of Karnataka. But, today almost all the textile units have closed there too," he added.
The reasons for the closure of these textile industries should be traced and efforts made to revive these units."
Stating that Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh had opened their own co-optex showrooms in the Karnataka, including Mysore, he suggested the immediate formation of the appropriate policy to open similar showrooms of Karnataka in other states.
"The establishment of an industry depends on various factors including availability of raw materials, trained labour, roads among others. The departments concerned should work in a co-ordinated manner to achieve positive results," the MLA said, calling for extensive research in the textile industry to modernise them and make them competitive with latest technology.
Tax relaxation, job security with minimum wages, and steps to stem harassment of women employed in the textile units should receive attention, Tanveer Sait added.
State Textile Department Commissioner B F Patil said, the 2013-18 textile policy of the Karnataka government had come into effect last year. Rs 1,000 crore grant was provided under the policy aimed at strengthening textile and ready-made garment industries in the state.
