30,000 powerlooms to fall silent for 11 days

Thirty-thousand powerlooms here are to stop working for 11 days from February 11, said coordinator of Powerloom Cloth Manufacturers Association Kadavel on Sunday. The powerlooms are to fall silent to protest against rise in price of rayon cloth, he said.

At present, the rayon yarn sells at Rs 250 per kg, which is a 25 per cent increase in price when compared to the price that prevailed in December last, he said. Because of the rise, the weave could not sell the yarn at the increased price and the cloth has piled up with the manufacturers, Kadavel said. The cost of production for a metre of rayon cloth is Rs 38 but the buyers pay only Rs 32 a metre, he said.

The weaver had protested in December by closing the factories, but the government was not willing to take steps to cut the rayon yarn price, he said. So, again the weavers decided to stage a protest for 11 days from February 11. During the strike, the weavers would stage demonstrations against the Union and state governments to take effective steps to reduce the rayon cloth price.