Mysore Lamps to be switched off !

The 71-year-old Mysore Lamps company in Bangalore, which once illuminated the famed Taj Mahal in Agra, will be closed down.

Karnataka’s Minister for Industries Katta Subramanya Naidu drew curtains over the company by announcing that the Government had against reviving the sick company, which had accumulated losses amounting to Rs 1.85 billion.

“There is no question of reviving the sick unit. It will be closed down”, he told reporters in Bangalore.

Mysore Lamps located in Yeshwanthpur in Bangalore started operations in 1936 and the Karnataka Government took it over in 1980 when it became a public sector enterprise. Karnataka Government is the largest shareholder in the company with 91 per cent of the shares. Public investment amounted to 6 per cent while another public sector company NGEF held the remaining three percent.

After the company went into the red since 1985, the J H Patel Government referred it to the Board of Financial and Industrial Reconstruction (BIFR) in the late nineties. The BIFR had declared Mysore Lamps as a sick unit.

“We have come to the conclusion that it is not worth reviving the company. The only thing is that the dues have to be settled”, Naidu said. Out of the 1,556 employees working in the company, as many as 1,419 had opted for voluntary retirement. The compensation for the rest of the employees will also be settled soon, he added.

The State Government is planning to develop the 21 acres of land in the heart of the City on which the factory stands into a building providing office accommodation. “We will use it for commercial development. We propose to rake in at least Rs one billion per month from the property. The plan will be finalized after consultation with Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy”, Naidu said.