TN power loom weavers' strike enters 4th day, Rs 35 cr daily loss

Chennai: The power loom weavers' strike against tariff hike entered the fourth day on Monday with an estimated per day loss of Rs 35 crore.

The workers have been demanding a roll back of the increased power tariffs.

The strike has affected Tiruppur and Coimbatore, two districts in Tamil Nadu where the maximum number of power looms are situated. According to industry sources, 1.75 lakh power looms in these two districts are shut due to the strike.

When contacted, the president of the power loom unit weavers in Coimbatore and Tiruppur, C. Palaniswamy said, "The strike has today entered the fourth day and this has led to a loss of Rs 35 crore per day. The production of 1 crore meter length of fabric has also been affected due to the strike."

Two lakh workers are directly employed and another three lakh are indirectly employed in the power looms spread across Palladam and Somannur areas of the two districts where the maximum concentration of units are present.

The workers are in doldrums as almost all of these workers do not know any other profession. They had conducted a strike in January for a hike in wages, but the strike was called off in March. The increase in cotton and yarn prices since May has also put a break on the production of cloth from power looms. The present strike will also directly affect the workers as shutting down the power looms means no jobs and hence no money.

Shanmuganathan T., a power loom weaver from Palladam while speaking to IANS said, "I am not sure when the strike will come to an end. We had strikes for wage hikes in January 2022 and continued for two months before it was called off in March. The power looms were closed due to increase in prices of cotton and yarn and with the power tariff hike, there is again a shutdown. All these are directly affecting the workers and we don't know what to do else as we have been trained for this only."

He said that the new power tariff hike will put a higher burden of Rs 8,000 - Rs 9,000 on each power loom unit per month which is a major increase as far as power loom weavers are concerned.

The power loom weavers also demand that the increase in fixed charges above 750 units of power for a unit was also creating a burden on them.