NAMAKKAL: The deafening tak-tak, tak-tak of powerlooms — harsh, metallic and unrelenting — defines life in Kumarapalayam. From main roads to narrow lanes, across Pallipalayam and its weaving clusters, the sound spills into every street and corner. Here, the looms do not pause. And in that unending rhythm, much else fades into the background, including the lives that sustain it.
Murugan (59) (name changed) is one among them. He has spent 42 years in the weaving industry, beginning at 17. Today, his body struggles to keep pace with changing times. For over 10 hours a day, Murugan tends to nearly 10 looms single-handedly — lifting heavy warp beams, fixing them into place, and ensuring the machines run without interruption. The cost of that labour is visible.
He pulls up his shirt to reveal a long surgical scar across his abdomen — a nephrectomy mark. “I gave my kidney 24 years ago,” he says. “This work was not enough to run my family. I have two daughters. We were in debt.” Lured by a broker who took him to Bengaluru with the promise of offering Rs 2 lakh for a kidney, Murugan returned with just Rs 32,000. “Since then, life has been a struggle. But to live, we still have to work,” he says. His wife, too, continues in the same sector.
In a single lane of about 15 houses in Pallipalayam, five to six residents, mostly women, told TNIE they had donated their kidneys. The practice has persisted for over 30 years. The pattern often begins closer home. Valli (48) (name changed) says she was drawn into it after a neighbour donated a kidney, setting off a chain that links one case to another through brokers.
Even today, the cycle has not fully broken. New cases continue to surface, even as earlier victims live with poor health and lingering debt. More than 100 kidney donors have been identified in just three villages in the Pallipalayam belt, and the number could be much higher across the constituency.
These stories are rooted in the same economic reality that defines the constituency. Weaving and textile work remain the backbone of Kumarapalayam, with most families dependent on powerlooms and allied industries, while agriculture plays a smaller role. But the sector that sustains the town is itself under strain.
Workers say wages remain low and irregular even as living costs rise. A sharp increase in yarn prices has squeezed margins and reduced work for small units. As production slows, many are forced to seek work in nearby industrial hubs, weakening an already fragile local economy.
K Balusamy, secretary of the Namakkal Weavers’ Association, says debt has pushed workers into conditions resembling bonded labour. Those who continue in the sector say the returns barely match the effort. S Santhi, a powerloom worker for over two decades, says, “We earn around Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,000 a week.”
The lack of a dedicated processing or export facility, poor waste management, and the absence of a Common Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP) in a region with over 200 dyeing units add to the misery of the struggling weaving community. It is against this backdrop that the constituency heads into another election.
Formed after delimitation in 2008, Kumarapalayam has seen three elections so far, all won by AIADMK’s P Thangamani, who is now seeking a fourth term. He says the constituency saw development during his tenure, but attributes current challenges to policy changes.
“Power tariff hikes and rising yarn prices have affected the sector. We had identified land for a CETP project covering 118 units and sent the proposal, but it was stalled by the DMK government.” Thangamani is up against DMK’s S Balu, fondly known as ‘Chairman Balu’.
A mill owner and former union chairman, he argues that welfare measures have reached people, but the constituency has seen limited growth under the current MLA. Observers say the contest is shaped as much by individuals as by parties. “Thangamani has built a strong personal base by maintaining close contact with people,” a DMK supporter says, adding that frequent candidate changes have affected the DMK’s credibility in the region.