Coimbatore: A month ago, after three generations of weaving, the 12 powerlooms at P Sampath Kumar’s weaving facility in Somanur fell silent. Today, they lie in pieces, stripped of their glory and history, outside a scrap dealer’s shop, waiting to be sold by weight to the highest bidder. “I joined my family weaving business 20 years ago,” says Sampath. “I didn’t think I’d be the one to turn it down.” The 42-year-old weaver from Coimbatore says he was left with no option but to sell his powerloom units to clear the mounting debt.
“There is no money in this profession for weavers like us. There is little advantage to survival. The business was doing well till a few years ago, says Sampath, until the weavers were hit hard by falling labor charges, demonetisation, implementation of GST, Covid lockdown and increase in raw material prices. “The hits kept coming one after the other. There was no relief,” says Sampath. The last one was the hike in electricity tariffs that came into effect in 2019 Tamil Nadu in September. Sampath says that he has not received the price of his loom in the sale. “When they were bought decades ago they cost `6 lakh. And now I sold them for just Rs 4 lakh. Now that the looms are sold, I will give the room on rent. I need the income,” he says, staring at the bare walls of his facility.
across Coimbatore and Tirupur Weavers in the districts considered centers of textile spinning and weaving mills are selling their power looms to scrap dealers at throwaway prices. “I used to fall asleep to the sound of my power loom in the background. The loom was a part of my family,” says K Jagtis, “Selling it for scrap broke my heart, but I had no option as I was drowning in losses. If we are going to start again, we need subsidy from the government. Many weavers have given up the trade and are working as daily wage laborers on farms or construction sites, says Jagtis. While weavers are reeling under losses and putting their businesses on hold, business is booming for scrap dealers. earth’s crustA power loom scrap dealer in Coimbatore’s Sengthurai village says 50 units are brought to his warehouse almost every day.
While a new powerloom costs somewhere between ₹1 lakh and ₹1.35 lakh, Boopathy disassembles the old ones and sells them by weight. The weight of a power loom unit ranges from 600 kg to 800 kg, and dealers like Boopathy fetch Rs 40 per kg. “After taking apart the entire power loom unit, we check to see if any parts can be reused as this also fetches good money.” I boopathyThe treasurer of the Somanur Power Loom Units Association says that 95% of powerloom units in Coimbatore and Tiruppur districts are in ‘job work’, meaning they work on orders received from master weavers and garment manufacturing companies. “Immediately after the hike in power tariffs was announced, we met government officials and asked them to give exemption to the powerloom sector.
We requested them not to implement the proposed tariff as it would badly affect the power looms operating in Coimbatore and Tirupur districts. We have also demanded better wages for outsourced work. But our requests were not heeded,” he says. “Weavers who quit do not want their children to take up this profession. The weavers are demanding a hike in labor charges, continuous supply of raw material at affordable prices, and exemption of the business from the recent power hike to keep the business alive.
“There is no money in this profession for weavers like us. There is little advantage to survival. The business was doing well till a few years ago, says Sampath, until the weavers were hit hard by falling labor charges, demonetisation, implementation of GST, Covid lockdown and increase in raw material prices. “The hits kept coming one after the other. There was no relief,” says Sampath. The last one was the hike in electricity tariffs that came into effect in 2019 Tamil Nadu in September. Sampath says that he has not received the price of his loom in the sale. “When they were bought decades ago they cost `6 lakh. And now I sold them for just Rs 4 lakh. Now that the looms are sold, I will give the room on rent. I need the income,” he says, staring at the bare walls of his facility.
across Coimbatore and Tirupur Weavers in the districts considered centers of textile spinning and weaving mills are selling their power looms to scrap dealers at throwaway prices. “I used to fall asleep to the sound of my power loom in the background. The loom was a part of my family,” says K Jagtis, “Selling it for scrap broke my heart, but I had no option as I was drowning in losses. If we are going to start again, we need subsidy from the government. Many weavers have given up the trade and are working as daily wage laborers on farms or construction sites, says Jagtis. While weavers are reeling under losses and putting their businesses on hold, business is booming for scrap dealers. earth’s crustA power loom scrap dealer in Coimbatore’s Sengthurai village says 50 units are brought to his warehouse almost every day.
While a new powerloom costs somewhere between ₹1 lakh and ₹1.35 lakh, Boopathy disassembles the old ones and sells them by weight. The weight of a power loom unit ranges from 600 kg to 800 kg, and dealers like Boopathy fetch Rs 40 per kg. “After taking apart the entire power loom unit, we check to see if any parts can be reused as this also fetches good money.” I boopathyThe treasurer of the Somanur Power Loom Units Association says that 95% of powerloom units in Coimbatore and Tiruppur districts are in ‘job work’, meaning they work on orders received from master weavers and garment manufacturing companies. “Immediately after the hike in power tariffs was announced, we met government officials and asked them to give exemption to the powerloom sector.
We requested them not to implement the proposed tariff as it would badly affect the power looms operating in Coimbatore and Tirupur districts. We have also demanded better wages for outsourced work. But our requests were not heeded,” he says. “Weavers who quit do not want their children to take up this profession. The weavers are demanding a hike in labor charges, continuous supply of raw material at affordable prices, and exemption of the business from the recent power hike to keep the business alive.