THRISSUR: While the state celebrates Onam as a harbinger of better times, a bunch of workers at mills under the National Textile Corporation continue to struggle as the pandemic has rendered them jobless for the past one-and-a-half years.The textile mills under NTC were shut down during the national lockdown last year. Though a few mills were opened after May 2020 for a few days, they were soon closed without notice.
“Kerala has the Kannur Spinning and Weaving Mill, Alagappa Nagar Textile Mill, Kerala Reshmi Mill, Mahe Mill and Vijaya Mouli Mill, Thiruvananthapuram, under NTC. Over 1,500 labourers, many of them, permanent staff,have been rendered jobless as the mills remain closed. Though the central government urged the textile mills to provide financial support to the temporary staff, they are not getting it properly,” said M R Rajan, treasurer, Kerala State Textile Workers Federation.
Around four months back, a person named Anto, who worked at the Kerala Reshmi Mills, Pullazhi, died by suicide due to debt and uncertainty over the opening of the mills. “The families of all these people too are worried as the reopening of the mills gets extended,” Rajan added.