The Holding Company of the Mill I joined was located at Madras (now known as Chennai) in the year 1914.This building was taken over after the mill which was sold and resold to 2 or 3 parties is presently a Hotel run by Tata's.
It's worth telling how a reputed textile mill of world fame closed due to so many factors is a history perhaps as recorded by Shalini Umachandran TNN. given below.
CHEQUERED HISTORY OF A TEXTILE COMPANY
Shalini Umachandran | TNN
For school children of the 1970s and 80s, there was no substitute to material from Binny Mills, whether their uniforms required striped shirts, muddy brown skirts, blazing red shorts or khaki ‘drill’.
The massive mill that spun out material that reached stores across the country has been closed since 1996, but the news that Binny Ltd is being split into three entities is reason enough to look back at the history of a company that sparked industrialisation in Madras as well as organised trade unionism in the country.
John ‘Deaf’ Binny, who arrived in India in 1797 to work for the Nawab of Carnatic, established Binny & Dennison (with Robert Dennison) in 1799. The firm, with its headquarters on Armenian Street, was an agency house representing British interests in south India, says historian S Muthiah.
Binny & Dennison became Binny & Co in 1812, and by 1870 the Buckingham and Carnatic Mills was set up in Perambur, the first major industrial centre in the south. Agricultural labourers, weavers and artisans from the area joined the factory, according to ‘Madras - The Land, The People and Their Governance’. They found that the working day
stretched to 18 hours, there were differences in wages and they had no facilities for food and rest. The workers went on strike in June 1873. By April 1918, they had organised themselves as the Madras Workers’ Union, the first organised trade union in the country.
“There had been workers’ struggles in the country from 1914, but this was the first trade union with bylaws, rules and regulations. It was the beginning of trade unionism in India,” says AK Padmanabhan, president, TN, CITU. “More unions of tram workers, municipal workers and electricity workers followed. Back then, trade unions were a double-barrelled gun — they fought against British oppression and for good wages and working conditions,” he says. Binny’s eventually grew into one of the biggest business houses in India, expanding into cotton, spinning, weaving and other activities, says Muthiah. “The British never modernised ( because the Gov't of the day did not allow them to import latest machines from their country ) and the mill made heavy losses,” he says.
In the 1940s, the British sold it to SBI, which re-sold it to a Coimbatore group in the ’80s. But labour trouble dogged the company. WR Varadarajan, the CPM leader who died recently, led agitations at the mill. In the 1990s, the Udayar group bought it, primarily for real estate. The mills were finally shut down in 1996, after more labour unrest. Part of the mill property in Perambur is now set to become an integrated township. The Binny brand is likely to be revived by one of its stakeholders. And the original founder, John Binny, is still remembered by a short stretch of road, Binny Road, in front of Taj Connemara, the property he owned in the 1800s.
The Binny Mills factory in Perambur has always been the site of fights — and not just between workers and management. Stunt scenes for a number of Tamil films were shot on its premises. Some blockbusters that were canned here:
Ayan | An entire cargo landing bay in an airport was created by art director Rajeevan, and a stunt scene with Surya and Akashdeep Saigal was shot over the course of four days
Billa | The theme song of the Ajith-starrer Billa, ‘My name is Billa’ was shot at Binny Mills and AVM Studios
Goa | A stunt sequence with Sneha and Vaibhav in Soundarya Rajnikanth’s film was canned here
Kanthaswamy | Photo shoots for the film starring Vikram and Shriya were organised across the city, including the mills
Saroja | Art director Vithesh erected a gigantic set resembling an industrial complex for action scenes
Shivaji - The Boss | The song ‘Athiradee’ in which Rajnikanth takes on dozens of villains was shot here
Tamil Padam | This fulllength spoof on Tamil movies could not have been complete without the inevitable climax fight sequence at Binny Mills
Vinnai Thaandi Varuvaaya | Songs for this Simbu-and-Trisha film were shot here
Holding Company Head Office & Registered Office at Channai (Madras Earlier)
TRADE AND TROUBLE: The company’s headquarters on Armenian Street (above) today and (below) in 1914; (inset) John Binny, who set up Binny & Co, one of India’s first conglomerates
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Courtesy: The Hindu, Channai.
