Butibori textile park finds no takers

There is not a single proposal for setting up a unit at the proposed textile park being developed by MIDC in Butibori here, revealed Maharashtra Industries Minister Ashok Chavan while interacting with industrialists here recently.

Chavan said that entrepreneurs could avail of benefits under the Central government-sponsored Scheme for Integrated Textile Park (SITP) and lamented that nobody from the backward regions of Vidarbha or Marathwada had shown any interest in the scheme.

The Central government has received 26 proposals for availing of benefits under SITP out of which six are from Maharashtra.

These six include three from Ichalkaranji and one each from Bhiwandi, Baramati and Tarapore. In Butibori, the textile park has been proposed as part of the Special Economic Zone (SEZ).

Chavan also asked the Vidarbha Industries Association (VIA) and Indo Rama Synthetics Limited (IRSL) to take the responsibility of assisting entrepreneurs in forming a special purpose vehicle (SPV) for promoting investment in the textile park.

The Centre, under SITP, was offering to support the employment generating textile units up to 40 per cent of total project cost, including investment on building and infrastructure, Chavan disclosed.

He said he had spoken to Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh about clearing a proposal of allowing sick textile mills to be operated on a joint venture basis. This would give employment to thousands of people and also help create wealth from dead assets, he added.

The minister agreed that labour reforms in the textile sector were a must for facing stiff competition from China and assured industrialists that the state government would be discussing the issue with the Centre.

He also approved setting up a residential zone near the MIDC area in Butibori provided some workers' cooperative came forward with such a proposal.

Later, talking to newsmen, Chavan said the draft for the new industrial policy for Maharashtra was ready and several fresh initiatives had been planned for generating huge employment in it.

Efforts are on to get the draft proposal cleared from various ministries so that the new policy could be introduced soon, he said.