Parvathy Mills Limited

Summary

A.D.Cotton or Parvathi Mills Limited is a textile manufacturing company owned by the National Textile Corporation (NTC) in Kollam city, India.[3] The company was founded in 1884 by British citizen A.D. Cotton and was the lifeline of Kollam before independence. This mill was taken for rent for running by a Tamil enterpriser after Independence as the land was owned by the Kerala State Textile Corporation at that time. It was later handed over to the NTC. The company has 120 employees, six of which are NTC staffers and 17 are casual workers. The plant has been shut down since 2008 pending modernisation.[2] However, there is demand to build a bird sanctuary connected to backwaters.

Parvathy Mills Ltd.
Company typePublic Sector
IndustryTextile industry
FoundedChinnakada, Downtown Kollam, India (1884)[1]
Headquarters,
ProductsTextile
Number of employees
120[2]

History edit

His Highness Visakham Thirunal Rama Varma, the then Maharaja of Travancore took the initiative to start a spinning mill in Quilon city (now known as Kollam) which was then business capital of Travancore along the Malabar Coast. He donated the land to start the AD Cotton Mill in 1884. The land was handed over to National Textile Corporation in 1974.[4]

The NTC planned to privatize Parvathy Mills in 2005. The plant was added by the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction who had listed it for revival in 2002. The plan was dropped after protests by the Parvathy Mills Workers Union.[5]

Along with many other mills in Mumbai, Coimbatore, Ahmedabad, Aurangabad, Akola, Nanded, Naini, Jaipur and Udaipur, Parvathy Mill was slated for redevelopment and modernisation in 2007[6] and 2012.[7] To date these improvements have not taken place, and mill has been closed since 2008.[8][2] As per the market rates in 2019, the total land value of Parvathy Mill would be more than 500 crore (US$63 million). The defunct mill's machinery has already become outdated and rusted beyond revival.[9]

Demands for mill's land to start medical college edit

Representatives from Kollam along with organizations staged a dharna and march in February 2014 to try to obtain the Parvathy Mill land as the site for a government medical college. The mill is on 16.40 acres of prime city land[4] valued at more than Rs.4 billion (US$64 million) as per the market value of 2014.[citation needed] As of December 2014, administrative delays in deciding on a site and obtaining land continue to delay the start of construction of the new college.[4]

References edit

  1. ^ Special Correspondent. "People demand cotton Mills land for MCH". The Hindu. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  2. ^ a b c Staff Reporter. "Fresh moves to revive Parvathy Mills in Kollam". The Hindu. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  3. ^ "District Official Telephone Numbers – Kollam". Retrieved 24 February 2015.
  4. ^ a b c "Delay in identifying land holds up Kollam medical college plan". Deccan Chronicle. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
  5. ^ "Drop moves to privatise Parvathy Mills". The Hindu. 22 November 2005. Archived from the original on 24 February 2015. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
  6. ^ "NTC set to cash in on hot properties". The Economic Times. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
  7. ^ "Parvathy Mills may get modernised". TNIE. Archived from the original on 24 February 2015. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
  8. ^ "People demand Parvathi Mills land for MCH". The Hindu. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
  9. ^ "Thiruvananthapuram: No work, full pay at National Textile Corporation". Deccan Chronicle. 20 November 2019. Retrieved 20 November 2019.