Tirupur dyeing units face wrath over ground water

Hindu Business Line

COIMBATORE, Aug.14, 2002

KNITWEAR manufacturers in Tirupur are facing protests from residents and farmers in some areas against commercial harnessing of ground water from farm-wells by textile dyeing units.

They fear that the protests may even affect garment production schedule.

Angry protests and road blocks put up last week by a section of residents and farmers against transport of ground water from agriculture wells in Mandapam area has unnerved the Tirupur dyeing houses, which rely on ground water supplies sourced from nearby villages for their textile processing.

The protests have been so intense that it has attracted the intervention of the Coimbatore district revenue authorities, fearing a law and order situation.

Though this is not the first time the Tirupur dyeing industry is facing hostility from the locals over ground water use, the timing of the protests is worrisome because export prospects for knitwear goods are projected as bright this year, with buyers from both the EU and the US expected to place more orders.

In addition, most export houses are currently preparing their garment sampling production, based on which they are expected to start their export manufacture by next month or so.

If the protests persist or spread to other areas where the dyers draw ground water, it will spell disaster for export prospects, feel the Tirupur exporters.

Normally, the period between May and August is considered lean period for Tirupur knitwear sector and it becomes busy from September, when the shipment schedule starts ticking.

Enquries with the Tirupur knitwear industry and the dyeing houses reveal that the extended dry spell felt in the surrounding villages and the failed monsoon this time have created conditions of acute water shortage in the vicinity and forced the dyeing and bleaching units in Tirupur to look for alternative water source in far-off points.

"The rate we pay for the ground water has gone up. We are now paying an average Rs 500-Rs 600 per tanker load of water as against Rs 300 we were paying earlier.

Similarly, owners of farm-wells have also jacked up their charges from Rs 50 to Rs 80 per load to Rs 150 to Rs 250," said sources in the dyeing industry who did not want to be quoted.

The hostility encountered by the dyeing houses ferrying water from agricultural wells has forced them to move over to the farm-wells situated in distant places, thereby pushing up the water transport cost.

While major garment exporters in Tirupur have set up `independent' processing houses in Erode district and have access to Cauvery river water, it is the export houses which rely on job-working dyeing units in Tirupur to get their fabrics processed who are suffering.

The current protests have been causing anxiety to the stand-alone `job-working' processing units in Tirupur. They fear that if the problem persists their business would suffer, as export houses would seek the services of `independent' processing houses situated in Erode and other places.

The Coimbatore district administration is also in a dilemma.

They are duty bound to protect the drinking water needs of the villages and the public, but at the same time any action to prevent the dyeing units from using the ground water would harm the interests of the Tirupur knitwear industry.