The Kerala government has decided to take over the land and machinery belonging to the defunct KunnatharaTextiles and hand it over to Kinfra following an initiativeby MKRaghavan, MP, who has been seeking the state government’s intervention to revive the fortunes of employees rendered jobless because of the closure of the textile mill.The Industries department has issued orders to facilitate the takeover of the land and machinery of the textiles. The MP said a multi-purpose industrial park would be established by Kinfra on the land. It was a memorandum to Industries Minister P.K. Kunhalikutty submitted in January 2012 that culminated in the government decision to take over the textile and hand over its land and machinery to Kinfra with clearance from the High Court. The UDF government had appointed a committee to study how best the land and machinery could be utilized. The decision to take over the land was based on the committee’s recommendation.

Kunnathara was liquidated by a Kerala High Court in 2001 and two attempts to sell it had failed following protests from the public and the employees. The textile mill, established in 1975 by 6,000 unemployed youth with shares of Rs5,000 each and with support of the State government and KSIDC, was closed down on October 24, 1994.

The textile mill has 12 acres of land estimated to be worthRs10 crores and a 11,0000 sq. ft. building. It is situated nearly 300 metres away from state road and 10 km away from the National Highway. Following the takeover, employees would get compensation ranging from Rs1 lakh to Rs2 lakh.