Coimbatore: The second most populous city in Tamilnadu and second only to Chennai in most metrics of social and industrial development, Coimbatore referred as the Manchester of South India is home to thousands of industries and lakhs of workers. Since its inception, Coimbatore’s progress has been spear-headed by daring industrialists who have strived to put the city in the global map.
Coimbatore: The second most populous city in Tamilnadu and second only to Chennai in most metrics of social and industrial development, Coimbatore referred as the Manchester of South India is home to thousands of industries and lakhs of workers. Since its inception, Coimbatore’s progress has been spear-headed by daring industrialists who have strived to put the city in the global map.
Not to forget the contributions by these industries and trade bodies who have played a monumental role in raising the standards of the infrastructure of the city.
Step-motherly treatment - Promises only in papers..!
This being the case, off late Coimbatoreans and the industralists are irked by the step-motherly treatment showed to the city by the successive governments. Continuous denial of bringing in major infrastructural development or policy implementation in the last 30-40 years to the city, has irked the industralists and the public who opine a city with such great potential has been kept languishing by every major party been in power.
Coimbatore has been ruled by MP’s and MLA's from Communists, Congress, DMK, ADMK and BJP alternatively, in the last 30 years. Even genuine requests by the industrialists for better air connectivity, airport expansion, better cargo facilities, cold storage for farmers, healthcare facilities still remains on the papers, shifting table to table for approval.
Enough is Enough..! - Kovai Power Driven Pumps and Spares Manufacturers Association (KOPMA).
Upset by the negligence by political parties in accomplishing timely requirements of the city, few Industrialists from Coimbatore are contemplating to contest in the upcoming elections as independent candidates.
There are more than 1,50,000 registered industries and more than 30,000 micro industries across the district into textile, automobile spare parts, castings, wet grinder, motor pumps, engineering and allied products. With more than 10 lakh people employed in all the above industrial sector, these sectors contribute notably to the state and the nation.
Kovai Power Driven Pumps and Spares Manufacturers Association (KOPMA) President, K.Maniraj said, "A slew of requests submitted by large and MSME industries continue to fall in deaf ears. Various pleas such as establishing a Public Sector Enterprise (PSU) company, Establishing Government Industrial estates (which includes exclusive apartment type industrial estates like chennai exclusively for Micro industry Sectors), Raw materials yard, Subsidies in Electricity etc none has been accomplished. These are just some of the pending requests which have been kept pending, for many years. Every time during the State and MP elections, all political parties approach the industrialists to seek our support and falsely promises to fulfill the demands."
He added that "some political parties even include our representations in their election manifesto. But after elections, the saga of us reminding them of our needs and writing to the concerned departments continue."
"The biggest problem is that most of the politicians lack in-depth knowledge about the industry sectors. Hence, it becomes a cumbersome task for us to explain them our requirements and its overall benefits. Diatressed over this, we have now decided to contest in the upcoming 2021 Tamil Nadu State elections, independently."
"Overall , the decision has garnered good response from industrialists belonging to various industry sectors. Actually, we decided to contest in the last MP elections, however withdrew the decision after political parties requested us", KOPMA President added.
"Sadly , even after nearly two years since the MP elections, our pleas are only on papers. Repeated negligence has now prompted us to contest in the elections. However, we would like it crystal clear that we are not against any particular political party or politicians. All we aim is need for representatives from our sector who would play a vital role in taking our issues to government and get it sorted. Surprisingly, some political parties and industrial associations have shown interest in supporting our initiative. Industrialists who are interested to support our electoral decision can reach us at +919842266075", Mr. Maniraj noted.
Expressing their views on this decision, few industrialists upon condition of anonymity said that they would support this move but are unwilling to come out openly, at this time. Many large associations are also contemplating in joining this move at this time.
Whether such moves will give political mileage or not, it’s a clear sign that the industrial sector of Coimbatore, particularly the small and medium industries are disenfranchised with the moves of the current and previous governments.