A. Raja seeks Central help for HPF revival

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Former Union minister A Raja might be languishing in Tihar prison, but that does not deter him from discharging his duty as an MP. Raja, whose stay in the prison had crossed one year last week, has written to the Union ministry recently seeking necessary financial assistance to revive the sickly performing Hindustan Photo Films (HPF) in his Nilgiris constituency.

In his letter, Raja sought immediate release of Rs 272 crore by Centre to revive the unit besides revising the employee’s wages due for nearly two decades now.

Thanks to the jailed MP or rather his sincerity under incarceration, his letter drew the attention of at least one in TN. DK president K. Veeramani on Wednesday appealed to TN chief minister to intervene and revive the HPF.

His appeal began with words of appreciation for Mr Raja. Veeramani referred to Raja’s letter to highlight the sorry state of affairs of the once profitable and now sickly performing HPF.

The market size of HPF in photo and X ray film production reduced from 80 to 20 per cent after liberalization and the strength of its work force dwindled from 4,100 in 1992 to 1,370 in 2002, Mr Veeramani pointed out.

He appealed to Ms Jayalalithaa to interfere immediately as a crucial meet would be held in New Delhi on February 10 to discuss the revival of HPF.