KOCHI: More than two decades after the Travancore Rayons unit at Perumbavoor was shut down, the nearly 70-acre property is now nothing more than a collection of ruined buildings, climbing vines, and peeling paint.June marks 10 years since state government-owned Kerala Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (Kinfra) assumed partial possession of the property. Sixty-eight acres — rich in forestry — lies untouched, unattended and restricted in the heart of Vallam in Perumbavoor.
The beginnings of Travancore Rayons, however, held promise. In 1946, Travancore Diwan C P Ramaswamy Iyer, in the hopes of industrialising the area, invited industrialist and business mogul M Ct M Chidambaram Chettyar to Vallam. Chettyar, who was the founder of the Indian Overseas Bank, founded the rayon manufacturing unit at Vallam, which bordered the erstwhile administrative states of Travancore and Cochin.
Following Chettyar’s death in a plane crash at Kallang Airport in Singapore in 1954, his children M Ct Muthiah and M Ct Pethachi took over the business. The company flourished and occupied its position as the first to set up a rayon manufacturing plant in India. Perumbavoor developed into a fully functioning municipality under the growth and influence of the Travancore Rayons. Local residents also claim that Perumbavoor evolved into a developed bus route because of the influence and advancement of the company.
However, in the 1980s, the company started facing issues. According to local residents, mismanagement was one of the major reasons. Chettyar’s sons weren’t interested in running the business, they added. Travancore Rayons underwent various unnecessary expansions, and it is widely acknowledged that internal power struggles and corruption were prevalent, unchecked by the management.
It became apparent that there had been excessive recruitment, resulting in a workforce of over 400 employees. Consequently, when the company encountered challenges, it resorted to terminating and laying off a portion of its staff. Another significant reason for its fall was the introduction of other alternative products such as the cheaper polythene paper, made out of petroleum, in the market.
Travancore Rayons was also notorious for the pollution it caused, which at the time was not discussed widely or even taken seriously. However, even two decades later, the aftereffects of the pollution stand as testaments of the rampage. The sulphuric acid remaining after its use would be disposed of into the waters of the Periyar. The company had an effluent treatment plant that would treat the acid, and regulate its PH level to 7, before disposing it of.
“They only maintained the required standards when there were officials around for inspections,” said P B Ali, an ex-employee of Travancore Rayons, who worked as an instrumentation technician. Often, sulphur was burnt for various purposes in the plant and released into the air, causing contamination.
The first layoff at the company happened in 1984 as a result of government intervention because of the recession. It was declared a sick unit in 1986 and the company restarted production the same year. It functioned on loans from sponsors and creditors like IDBI. Ali claims that even during the layoff, work continued without consistent pay. However, despite efforts, the company continued to face difficulties.
“Under the pretext of ‘drawing cable lines to Kochi airport’, they managed to shut down the company,” Ali said.
Workers’ unions intervened and guaranteed the protestors that their jobs were intact and that the company would resume production after 19 days. But nothing happened. Finally, on July 17, 2001, Travancore Rayons was shut down, once and for all.