M A I N   N E W S

Punjab’s cotton belt gets boost with textile park
Sushil Goyal/TNS

Design centre Sangrur: Keeping in view shortage of skilled persons in textile sector in the country, the Union Ministry of Textiles will establish Apparel Training and Design Centre in Barnala. The centre will impart training to 1,000 unskilled youths every year

Barnala, July 29
Lotus Integrated Texpark, the first such commercial hub in North India, was today inaugurated by Union Minister for Textiles Dr Kavuru Sambasiva Rao at the Trident Complex at Dhaula village near here.

The texpark will give a boost to the textile industry in the cotton belt of the Malwa region. The park, spread over 100 acres, currently has seven units, including four units for terry towel, bathrobe, fabric dyeing and cut, stitch and packing; and two other textile units for melange yarn spinning and fibre dyeing.

An amount of Rs 600 crore has been invested on the seven units of the texpark. The total investment outlay on all 10 units of this park was fixed at Rs 850 crore.

In the texpark, 1,500 persons have been given direct employment so far while another 2,000 persons have got employment indirectly from it. He said that China was seven to eight times ahead of India in the textile sector. India could compete with its neighbour as the Centre had been giving 35 to 40 per cent subsidy to the textile industry, besides giving a Rs 40 crore subsidy for the setting up of a textile park. The Union minister asked Punjab industrialists to come forward and enter the textile industry as Punjab had a cotton belt in Bathinda. More funds were needed for research and development in the textile sector, he said.

He said he had approached the Centre time and again for increasing the MSP of crops.

Deputy Chief Minister, Punjab, Sukhbir Singh Badal demanded a special package from the Union minister for the textile industry of the state and for setting up of more textile units and parks.

He also asked the Union minister to allocate funds for starting more skill-development programmes in Punjab and to spend more money on the research and development of cotton to increase its yield and to inculcate a sense of security among cotton growers.

Sukhbir said that to save Punjab, the state government had been emphasising on the diversification of crops. The textile sector was the only area which could help the state in this direction. This was the reason that the state had come out with special incentives for the textile industry, he said.

Chairman of the Trident Group of Industries Rajinder Gupta welcomed Union Minister Dr Kavuru Sambasiva Rao, Union Minister of State for Textiles Panabaaka Lakshmi, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal and Sangrur MP Vijay Inder Singla on the occasion.