In a bid to cut costs, garment manufacturers in India’s Tirupur region are increasingly getting their fabrics processed in the neighbouring state of Karnataka, using unauthorised factories that have not adopted Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD), according to local reports.
Around 25% of Tirupur’s fabric processing is now being done in the neighbouring state, in villages like Mysuru, where factories have not adopted ZLD, making their overheads lower and around 20% cheaper, the Times of India has reported. The dyeing units operating in Tirupur following ZLD norms have to spend 20-25 paise (one hundredth of a rupee) per litre of water for the purpose.
“We are getting reports that a section of garment manufacturers, both engaged in export and domestic trade, are processing fabric with textile dyeing units in villages near Mysuru and also in few other districts in Tamil Nadu including Madurai and Virudhunagar,” S Nagarajan, president of the Dyers Association of Tirupur, told the Times of India. “Most of these units are neither authorised nor follow ZLD norms.”
According to the publication there are around 400 dyeing units operating in Tirupur City and its surrounding areas. There are 18 common effluent treatment plants and around 100 individual effluent treatment plants catering to the needs of the dyeing units to comply with ZLD norms, as directed by the Madras High Court.
The garment manufacturers are said to have been warned against dyeing their fabrics in units near Mysuru, based on instruction from the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board, and face action under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974.
The managing director of a leading knitwear manufacturing company in Tirupur told the Times of India that garment makers are trying to reduce manufacturing costs to stay in business as “the industry is already facing a crunch due to implementation of demonetisation and GST apart from competition from countries like Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.”
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By GlobalDataThe Dyers Association of Tirupur is understood to have made a representation to the Pollution Control Board seeking a direction to control unauthorised dyeing units.
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