The tiny Kamalapur village in Mangapet mandal came alive with festivities all around and people dancing in gay abandon with the State government keeping its promise to ensure reopening of the BILT factory here on Tuesday.
Hundreds of employees and general public came onto road cheering each other and hailing Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao.
They conducted ‘palakbhishekam’ to the flexi-board of KCR.
Employees JAC leader Vaddeboina Srinivasulu said they were all elated at the decision to reopen the factory. “This is the biggest day in our lives and many more people here. We thank our Chief Minister and our management for their kind gesture,” he said.
According to him, since the closure of the unit, the bustling tiny village wore a deserted look and sombre atmosphere prevailed all over.
The decision brought the light back into the town and lives of people.
The factory which started producing pulp from wood was established in the 1977.
Currently, there are 705 permanent employees, 450 non-PF and 320 PF employees working in the factory. Another 6,000 workers were dependent on the factory.
Cheaper pulp
The pulp used to be sold to textile companies, but with pulp available at cheaper prices in the international market, the demand for pulp produced by this factory came down resulting in losses.
With 6,000 tonnes of pulp left unsold in the factory, the management of the factory decided to stop the production of pulp on April 3, 2014 and subsequently shutdown the factory in August last year.
The closure dealt a severe blow to thousands of people around.
The employees ran from pillar to post and launched a relay hunger strike.
They were on protest since 308 days.
“After 20 months of agony, we are finally relieved. Our good days are back and we are all immensely happy today,” Mr. Srinivasulu said.
