Kerala’s most renowned NRI (Non Resident Indian) business tycoon Yusaffali has requested Kitex Garments Ltd, a private textile company based in Kochi, to not pull out of its new project and leave the state. There has been a controversy over the company’s announcement that it was forced to withdraw from an ambitious Rs 3,500 crore rupee project because of continuous government interventions and harassment.
“In my personal opinion, not 3500 crore, not 100 crore, not even a single rupee investment should go out of Kerala; that's my sincere wish. The reason is it is also the responsibility of private investors, as it is of the government, to give job opportunities to the future generations in Kerala. So my request to Kitex is not to go out of Kerala. There should be talks between the government and Kitex to bring about an amicable settlement,” Yusaffali said to Asianet News.
Sabu Jacob, chairman of the Kitex group, had said in a statement on Tuesday that it was very difficult to run the existing industrial units in the state and that the state government has been harassing the company with raids by officials from various departments. He alleged that the officials entered factory units, prevented workers from doing their work and grilled and harassed them, on several occasions. He also alleged that the officials never conveyed what the company was doing wrong.
Following his statement, the Tamil Nadu government invited the company to invest there. Sabu Jacob said on Saturday July 3 that almost 10 state governments have approached the company.
The Kitex factory has been functioning in Kerala for 26 years and has over 10,000 employees at present.
The company floated a political party called Twenty20 which won several seats in the local body polls of December last year. Jacob was criticised by Congress leader PT Thomas recently saying that he was in the practice of playing such tactics as he had pulled a similar one during the Congress-led UDF rule earlier, when caught on the wrong foot.