INDUSTRIES

section i-LARGE AND SMALL INDUSTRIES

 Electricity Generation.

Prior to 1952 Yeotmal was the only town electrified in the whole district. The electricity was supplied by the Yeotmal Electric Supply Company. The programme of electrification of rural areas in due course got a considerable momentum and as many as eight municipal towns and 100 villages were electrified by the end of 1963-64. After the Maharashtra State Electricity Board came into existence, the Yeotmal Electric Supply Company Ltd. stopped generating electricity and started purchasing the electric supply from the Board. The generation of electric supply from the diesel generating set at Umarkhed was also connected with the Grid system of the Maharashtra State Electricity Board from December 1962. Since January 1963 all the electrified towns and villages have been connected with the Grid system of the Maharashtra State Electricity Board. The Yeotmal Electric Supply Company Ltd. has also been taken over by the Maharashtra State Electricity Board. Hence, there is no private agency now in the district supplying electrical energy. The Maharashtra State Electricity Board supplies electricity from the Khaparkheda Thermal Power Station located near Nagpur. The thermal power station had an initial capacity of 30 mw. It was subsequently increased to 60 mw. in 1960. The Maharashtra State Electricity Board has its diesel generating station at Umarkhed with an installed capacity of 128 kw. The following tables give information about the electrification of villages and towns as on 31st March 1966, and also generation and consumption of electricity.

TABLE No. 3

NUMBER OF VILLAGES AND TOWNS ELECTRIFIED BY MAHARASHTRA STATE ELECTRICITY BOARD AND POPULATION-COVERED IN YEOTMAL DISTRICT FROM 1962 TO 1966

*Inclusive of number of towns.

**Inclusive of population of towns.

TABLE No. 4

 GENERATION AND CONSUMPTION OF ELECTRICITY IN YEOTMAL DISTRICT FROM 1961-62 TO 1965 66

[Figures in K. W. H ]

TABLE No. 4 continued

It can be seen from the above table that the consumption of electric energy in industries and agriculture has increased considerably. The total number of electric pumps has increased from 175 as on 1st March 1961 to 1,127 as on 1st April 1965. The reason for the increase is the speedy execution of the programme of rural electrification as well as the assistance given by the Government in the form of loans to cultivators for purchasing pumps for irrigation purposes.

Ginning and Pressing.

As stated earlier, cotton ginning and pressing is an age-old industry in the district. In its early stage, at the beginning of the twentieth century, or even prior to it, the industry was solely dependent on hand gins, hat reche. Subsequently steam gins came into operation and numbered about 40 in 1908. Of these, 32 were for ginning and eight for pressing cotton. The present slate of the industry, though the number of units working has increased from 31 in 1961 to 37 in 1965-66, does not show a progressive growth. The industry is seasonal, the working season spreading over from November to May. The average number of working days of the factories in the district varies between 130 and 200.

Cotton, which is the prime requisite of the ginning and pressing industry, is an important cash crop of the district. The area under this crop has increased considerably from 6,96,698 acres in 1957-58 to 8,14,925 acres in 1965-66. Of the five tahsils Darwha has the highest area under cotton, which in 1965-66 accounted for 2.09,188 acres of land under the crop.

Of the ginning and pressing factories in the district, a few purchase cotton and do ginning and pressing, while the rest do not purchase cotton for ginning and pressing. Instead they do so on behalf of their customers and charge them for the services rendered. The service charges for each boja of 178 kg. are fixed by the Collector of the district.

The important tools and equipment of the factories comprised steam or oil engines, boilers, single or double roller gins, high and low pressure presses, drilling machines and cotton operators. Electricity was chiefly used as fuel along with diesel oil, groundnut husk, coal and wood. The fifteen factories which were surveyed employed 298 skilled workers and 2,068 unskilled and other workers, both men and women. The workers included engineers, engine drivers, boiler attendants, firemen, roll-cutters and ginmen. A few of them were paid on a monthly basis, the monthly emoluments varying between Rs. 100 and Rs. 175. The other unskilled labourers were paid daily wages. A male labourer always used to get more than the female labourer. The daily wages for a male worker varied from Rs. 2 to Rs. 3.50 while that of a female from Rs. 1.50 to Rs. 1.75.

Dal Mills.

The district has only three dal mills since 1963. The average total number of workers viz. 55 men and 7 women employed in these units also remained constant. Usually these units only charged for milling and husking dal. In case they purchased raw materials, they did so on a very small scale. The mills, except in the months of August and September, worked throughout the year. Electricity was used as power though crude oil was also used by some units. The machinery consisted of grinding stones, rollers, elevators and fillers. Crushers and hullers were used for polishing and husking pulses. When flouring was undertaken, side by side a pair of mill-stones in the grinding machine and an electric motor or an oil engine were deemed necessary.

One of the units located at Yeotmal was established in 1958. Its total investment in 1967-68, inclusive of productive capital, was Rs. 13 lakhs, Rs. 1,60,000 being the cost of land, shed, godown and office building; Rs. 60,000 the cost of two electric machines and rollers, etc. The value of raw material used during the period was Rs. 11,59,000. The unit worked for ten months in a year from October to July. During the brisk season it employed on an average 30 workers per day. Besides, there were ten persons in the office including two skilled workers. The average expenditure on wages was Rs. 15,000. while the emolyments of the office staff amounted to Rs. 6.000. The daily wage rate of a labourer varied between Rs. 2.50 and Rs. 3.50. The average electric charges amounted to Rs. 700.

The market rates per quintal of different pulses were as given below :—

Tur dal Rs. 120, Mug dal Rs. 130 and Udid dal Rs. 130.

The products were sold in the district and were also sent to various places, such as, Pune, Bombay, Nagpur, Akola, etc. The unit did not report any specific marketing difficulties.

Saw Mills.

Amongst the industries which solely depend upon the forest produce, saw mills form the second largest category of industry in the district. The district has an area of 1,510.18 sq. miles under forests, forming 28.94 per cent of the total geographical area as against 17.56 per cent for the State. Of the forests in charge of the Forest Department, 840.32 sq. miles occupied by 'A' class reserved forests are one of the well managed and most valuable forests of the State. The forests are distributed all over the district but Pusad tahsil has the maximum concentration in the southern portion. This portion along the bank of Penganga river has also the concentration of forests of superior quality The good quality teak forests are mainly in the southern portion of Pusad tahsil. Teak is the main species in this forest and form over 50 per cent of the produce and in many areas it is almost pure.

The saw mills generally get work from the local areas in the district. There has been a steady increase in the number of saw mills in the district. In 1961 there were 6 saw mills in the district, whereas the number rose to 9 in 1964. Most of these saw mills are located at Yeotmal. The first saw mill, viz., the Ganesh Saw Mill at Yeotmal was installed in 1952. The various items of machinery in these saw mills comprised handsaw machine, circular saw, moulding machine, sharpening machine, grinder and electric motor. Electricity was the chief fuel used by these industries. The year-wise average daily numher of workers employed in these industries is given below: —

The average daily wage rate of a worker, varied between Rs. 2.50 and Rs. 8.

Oil Mills.

There were only four oil mills in the district. Two of them were located in Pusad tahsil, one at Yeotmal and the fourth at Bori Arab in Darwha tahsil. The Yeotmal Oil Mill established in 1935 is the oldest of these. The remaining three were established in 1965. The working period of these factories generally extends for about nine months between October and June.

Oil-seeds, such as, groundnut, sesamum, safflower, linseed and cotton seed are used as raw material by this industry.

The machinery of these industries usually consists of a decorticator for dehusking the oil-seeds, expeller for crushing the seeds, filter machines or filter pump for oil purification and electric motor for the generation of power. All the units, however, did not possess these items of equipment. Of these, the expeller was a common machine installed by every reporting unit.

The products of the industries mainly included groundnut oil, sesamum oil, linseed oil, safflower oil, sometimes cotton seed oil and the oil cakes. The industries under report employed eight skilled workers and 72 labourers on daily wages. The monthly emoluments of the permanent workers varied from Rs. 125 to Rs. 250, while the wage-rate of daily workers varied between Rs. 2 and Rs. 6. The female labourer was generally paid less than the male labourer.

Mining.

The district contains deposits of coal of non-coking type. The coal fields geologically belong to the Barakar stage of the Damuda series of Gondwana system. The coal fields are found near Rajura village in Wani tahsil and also at Ghugus-Telwasa. The fields in Wani tahsil extend over an area of about 12 sq. miles from Pisgaon to Warora (in Chandrapur district). Besides, the district has deposits of limestone near Rajur, Khekari, Manli, Gaurala, Kurli, Pardi and Pathri. The limestone found at all the places is suitable for manufacture of cement.

Bidi-making.

Bidi-making gave employment to about 120 persons in the district. It was a small-scale industry, the total number of units being three. The employment in the industry shows a considerable reduction as compared to the year 1961 when it was given to 212 persons.

Bidi-making was entirely done by hand and there was little or no use of machinery. The tools included very simple instruments, such as, brick furnace, metal trays for heating tobacco, a pair of scissors and a knife. The brick furnace was a peculiar construction of bricks for baking bidis.

The labourers, mostly women working in the factory premises, were directly employed by the factory owners. Besides, middlemen and contractors who had their own feeder factories also supplied bidis to these factories. According to this system, the owners provided the middlemen with a fixed quota of tobacco and leaves and asked for a fixed number of bidis in return for which commission was given to them. These middlemen, in turn, hired labourers and got the work done. The wages paid to the labourers were at the rate of Rs. 1.75 per thousand bidis.

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