New Delhi: A Member of Parliament from Tamilnadu raised the issue of the defunct Hindustan Photo Films in the Rajya Sabha today.
K R Arjunan (AIADMK) demanded the construction of a medical college and hospital on the unused land of Hindustan Photo Films (HPF) at Ooty, in Nilgiris district of Tamilnadu.
The Ooty factory has been shut and its land is lying unused, he said.
Arjunan was elected to the Upper House in 2013.
The HPF factory in Ooty was a Central public sector enterprise, set up in 1967. It was a thriving factory that gave employment to local talent also. It produced X-ray, cinema film roll and photo roll called Indu. However, the change in economic policies in the country in the early 1990s and MNCs entering the space made things difficult for HPF to keep pace. It slowly lost its sheen and was finally shut down in 2018.
The cry grew to make use of the sprawling land for something that would benefit the locals and tourists: to set up a medical college; a software park; or an economy class tourist lodge.
In 2018, Ooty Congress MLA R Ganesh appealed to the government to establish a multi-speciality hospital with air-ambulance facility to help locals and tourists.
Today, this appeal was repeated by MP Arjunan in the Rajya Sabha.
(With agency inputs)