Telangana Government’s plans to develop textile industry in Sircilla on the lines of Tirupur in Tamil Nadu, referred to as the knitwear capital of India, has resuscitate among the power loom weavers.

The town and its surrounding areas were rocked by a spate of suicides by the weavers due to crisis in the industry, unemployment and invasion of jet looms for over a decade. Replicating the Tirupur model for the textile town in Telangana can work wonders, only if there is an attitudinal change among the power loom weavers.

In a bid to give the much needed confidence and address the constant problems faced by local weavers, TRS Government is determined to develop textile industry in Sircilla on the lines of Tirupur as the city of 30-35 square km, located about 50 km from Coimbatore, accounts for 90 percent of India’s cotton knitwear exports.

According to Tirupur Stakeholders Forum, Tirupur city grew in leaps and bounds due to the entrepreneurial skills of the people, coupled with hard work and commitment to job. The finished products are exported to US and the European markets in a big way. Almost all global brands source their merchandise from Tirupur making it the much sought after destination.

Statistics alone speak volumes about the flourishing industry in Tirupur. There are 3,000 garment stitching units, 700 dye houses with an average of 10 tonnes per day capacity, 4,000 knitting machines, 15,000 tonnes of yarn is consumed every month. Approximately, 3-lakh skilled workers are employed in the knitwear industry. There are close to150 spinning mills within the radius of 50 km besides ancillary units for producing zips, buttons, tapes, labels, corrugated cartons and polybags, the TSF website says. Knitwear exports from Tirupur stood at Rs. 17,817 crore in 2013-2014 against Rs. 13,709 crore the previous year.

AD (Handlooms and Textiles) Venkateshwara Rao said that replicating Tirupur model would provide more employment opportunities and produce value added fabric on the modern jet looms. The new cotton sizing, processing units and also Apparel Park would come up in the region and there would be good demand for the cotton yarn produced in the local spinning mills.

Sircilla Power loom Workers Union (affiliated to AITUC) president Samalla Mallesham approving the decision of the State government to modernize the existing power looms with the modern semi-auto and jet looms to produce value added fabric, said that the State government should first focus on providing all amenities at the Textile Park on top priority.

The government decision to adopt the Tirupur model of going towards knitting industry sector to produce cotton hosieries by providing more employment and increased exports is acceptable to the owners of power looms and dyeing unit producers in Sircilla. For any project to achieve success, the beneficiaries plays a responsible role.