For a state that has been frantically trying to shake off its investor-unfriendly tag through various initiatives, Kerala is now facing a major embarrassment. The Kitex Apparel Park, that houses the third largest manufacturing unit of infant garments in the world and has an aggregate turnover of Rs 550 crore, has been vindicated in its stand that it has not flouted any norms laid down by the Kerala State Pollution Control Board.
The board was directed by the Kerala High court to look into allegations that the company’s effluent discharge was beyond permissible limits.
In the report submitted before the court on Thursday, the PCB chairman has found that its major emission parameters were well within the prescribed limits. There are some suggestions made by the PCB as to how the company could improve on some of the existing facilities, which it has undertaken to do within a stipulated period.
But the charge against Kitex that it was a major pollutant has come unstuck.
The court has adjourned the hearing of the case to Tuesday.
Speaking to Express, Sabu Jacob, Kitex group managing director, said he remained firm in his resolve that his future projects would not come up in the state. “I have been tortured no end for the past five months. It was a conspiracy against Kitex, where the Kizhakkambalam panchayat, the police department and the local PCB wing all acted in tandem. I am saying this with utmost conviction. Kitex group is not going to make any more major investments in Kerala, including the immediate plans for a Rs 262-crore expansion.”
“For the last couple of months, our vehicles were getting smashed at Thykkavu, very close to our main entrance, forcing about 75 vehicles that ply to and from the company to take a six-km-long detour through the backside of our premises. I could easily have played spoilsport and made all this public during the ‘Emerging Kerala’ summit last month but chose not to besmirch the image of the state,” he added.
The state government may be finally waking up and trying to undo the damage but it could well be a case of too little, too late. Minister for Ports, Fisheries and Excise K Babu admitted he has been entrusted with the duty of playing mediator between the company and the action council that has levelled various charges against Kitex. “I will be involved in this task over the next two days and, therefore, am not in a position to say anything now,” he said.
Things were allowed to get out of hand once the Kitex management’s direct plea to the Chief Minister in June to intervene fell on deaf ears.
Elamaram Kareem, former Industries Minister, is quick to point out that Kitex had no issues when the LDF was in power.
“There was great rapport between Kitex and our govt as we treated the largest private sector employer in the state with due respect.
“What is happening now underlines the fact that the UDF government is taking the industries that are housed in Kerala for granted even as they try to woo outsiders,” he said.
As per the law of the land, the factory licence comes up for renewal before the panchayat every year. From 2001 to 2006, the Kizhakkambalam panchayat did not grant licence and Kitex operated during the entire tenure with deemed licence.
The story was no different after the UDF came to power in 2011. But this year, things took a turn for the worse after the panchayat went for the jugular and moved the High Court seeking the shutdown of the company for flouting PCB norms.
A senior KPCC functionary said that most of the party men were against the witch-hunting that has been going on against Kitex. “It is up to the Chief Minister to take a call and do what is right,” he said. Things were allowed to get out of hand once the Kitex management’s direct plea to the Chief Minister on June 21 to intervene fell on deaf ears.
Sabu Jacob cannot resist rubbing it in, apparently with Tata Motors and Singur as the reference points, that his company too has been approached by one of Gujarat government’s top bureaucrats with an invitation from Chief Minister Narendra Modi, saying that Kitex need not look beyond Gujarat for its next phase investment. Kitex may go shopping to Gujarat, Sri Lanka or even China for a new investment destination, even as the company toys with the idea of shoring up its US facilities. Surely, it is a chapter in its investment history that Kerala may want to forget.
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