Tirupur garment units may not resume work before May 6 over scrutiny issues

District admin portal being updated, go-ahead only for for exporting units, buying offices, export offices and export-related job work units

Tirupur garment units, which do business worth Rs 50,000 crore, are unlikely to resume production on Tuesday as applications for reopening factories are still pending with the district administration. 

The district administration said that factories in rural areas can apply for permission and start work according to the Tamil Nadu government guidelines. 

Factories falling under corporation limit need to apply online. The application will be first scrutinised by a designated officer, then the factory will be inspected to ensure that it is prepared to follow the guidelines, and then permission will be granted.

Since the portal is being updated to add garment factory details, the industry needs to wait. Meanwhile, some applications, filed manually, are being considered.

Permissions will be granted only for those factories producing goods for exports and offices involved in export-related work. Nearly half the Tirupur garment industry's revenues come from exports.

The industry employees around 600,000 people; nearly 170,000 are migrants, largely from Odhisha, Jharkhand, and West Bengal.

On Monday, the district collector held a video conference with the Tamil Nadu chief secretary and it was decided that Tirupur units would be allowed to operate with 50 per cent workforce.

But, exporting units and sampling units falling under corporation limits were permitted to reopen with only 30 per cent workforce.

The collector had invited the presidents of all related associations for a meeting on Monday and discussed ways to resume the entire eco-system.

Sources said the district administration needed time to understand the value and supply chains.