Bhiwandi looms feel powerless

Bhiwandi, a city of powerlooms, 60 km drive from Mumbai, is struggling for its survival. Shortage of power and water with deteriorating roads are altogether taking a toll on the small textile firms here.

Reeling under hardship, the units have already started migrating. Industrialists say if matters do not improve soon, a complete exodus of the units should not be a surprise.

There are around 3,500 units, with 7 lakh powerlooms functioning compared with 5,000 units and 9 lakh powerlooms about five years ago. The city also houses units catering to dyeing yarn and cloth. In all, there are 200 yarn-dyeing and 75 cloth-dyeing units.

The textile production has been hit by around 40 per cent, owing to irregular power supply, with power cuts for 7 hours a day. The looms, which have a production capacity of 10,080 million metres of fabric a year, have been reduced to producing about 7,000 million metres these days.

"If we do not get sufficient power, we cannot maintain our production levels. Industries' power requirement stands at 650 mw and what we are actually getting is just 500 mw," says Ratilal Sumaria, president, Halari Powerloom Owners' and Weavers' Association of Bhiwandi.

Under such circumstances, Vapi and Surat, with better infrastructure, are attracting industrialists, he adds.

On an average, fabric cost is Rs 15 a metre. The units in Bhiwandi produce fabric worth Rs 9,750 crore currently, which with proper power supply would have been Rs 15,120 crore - a straight cut of 35 per cent.

Rajesh Mengharajani, owner of Major Textiles, with 35 powerlooms in Bhiwandi, says, "It is difficult to survive here. Making investments in machines here is a complete failure. We cannot think of expanding our business, even if we want to. All our money is going towards expenses for diesel."

There are around 2,000 generators (in a city of 3,500 textile units), consuming 1,60,000 litres of diesel each day. Many, who cannot afford the diesel cost, have no option but to keep their units shut during load shedding. Mukesh Galaiya, who has a dyeing unit, is one of them. He says that very soon he will be shifting his unit to Vapi.

The condition of 300 cloth and yarn dyeing units is worse than their counterparts in the weaving sector. Apart from power woes, shortage of water is an equally considerable concern for them.

Water supply lasts for two hours a day "� an hour each in the morning and in the evening. Dyeing firms say it is not sufficient and ask for a separate water supply for the industry.

A water tanker, standing right at the entrance of JK Process, a dyeing firm, depicts the apathy of the units.

"We are spending Rs 16,000 for 40 water tankers everyday," says Nitin Kamble, a technical dyeing expert at JK Process. "I followed my father in this business. But I won't do the mistake of roping in my son into this," he says, adding that he is considering leaving Bhiwandi.

There is a dire need of political will to reform the area, points out Sumaria.

Around 1.25 lakh powerlooms have shifted to Hyderabad and the rest to Vapi. Interestingly, if one happens to visit Bhiwandi, scraps of powerlooms could well be seen at the roadside shops being sold for a song.