Dhariwal wool Mill on DeathbeD

The 137-year-old Dhariwal Woollen Mills in Dhariwal (Gurdaspur) Punjab, which produced the My Fair Lady brand of knitting wool, is about to be closed. The NITI Aayog has recommended to the Union Textile Ministry that the plant should be shut down. The mill’s title, New Egerton Woollen Mills, is a relic of the British Raj. The mill’s parent company was the British India Corporation (BIC) Limited, a subsidiary of the Union government. In 2010, the mill building was granted heritage status by the Archaeological Survey of India. The mill was declared sick two decades ago. It could not be revived despite repeated attempts over the past few years. Anytime now, the death knell may be sounded to close the plant forever, rendering 325 full-time employees jobless. The government has been paying the employees “idle wages”. Employees sign their attendance and spend time playing cards. Late Gurdaspur BJP MP Vinod Khanna’s wife Kavita Khanna and current Congress Rajya Sabha member Partap Singh Bajwa did their best to revive the factory. Bajwa even got a grant of Rs 315 crore sanctioned from the Board of Industrial and Financial Reconstruction, but it never reached the factory because of bureaucratic tussles. Kavita Khanna, the industrialist wife of Vinod Khanna, met the NITI Aayog chairman and discussed a revival plan with him. She also met top officials of the Textiles Ministry. She claims that she has the experience of reviving a Mumbai-based sick unit. Kavita is keen to nurture her late husband’s constituency in hope of getting the BJP poll ticket in 2019.