The Hindu Business Line : No takers yet for textile cluster infrastructure scheme funds

However, in the last two years of the scheme running, no project has reached the stage of claiming the funds. The scheme is intended to strengthen basic infrastructure needed for textile clusters across the country.

The tardy progress shown in implementation of infrastructure schemes by the agencies promoting such schemes in different textile clusters apart, the mid-course change in the structure of the projects and to a great extent the lack of involvement shown by State Governments concerned in such ventures are cited among the reasons for the TCIDS projects not taking off .

At least 16 infrastructure development projects in various textile clusters across the country have been chosen under the TCIDS. Of this, only five projects are believed to have reached the stage of being accorded approval from the Ministry of Textiles, the operating agency for the TCIDS projects. But in these five cases, it is not clear as to how many have obtained the clearance from the respective State Governments, though in some cases the State Government has no obligation to approve them, according to official sources.

Almost all these infrastructure projects planned under the TCIDS are related to improving/modernising the textile wet-processing system, especially the effluent treatment technology.

The TCIDS was conceived originally by the Union Textile Ministry with a view to helping the domestic textile industries upgrade infrastructure bases in their production centres and was launched with the support of the Finance and the Commerce Ministries.The TCIDS components offer a maximum financial grant (or subsidy) up to Rs 20 crore per project and these grants would be in the form of reimbursement of investments made by the promoters of the projects.

While some critical project components such as common effluent treatment system, water supply and drainage, crèche building would receive 100 per cent subsidy, a few other components would get Central subsidy of 75 per cent with the rest coming from the State Government.

According to Mr Ram Asrey Lal, a senior official and Deputy Director of the Ministry of Textiles, who handles the TCIDS projects relating to the modernisation and upgradation of common effluent treatment plants in textile clusters, among the five projects approved by the Ministry are the Pandesara Green Welfare Co-operative Society's effluent treatment plant in Surat (Gujarat); Tirupur's windmill project to be promoted by Tirupur Export Knitwear Industrial Complex; Handprocessors common effluent treatment project in Pali, Marwar in Rajasthan; and another CETP project from handprocessors cluster in Jethpur at Rajkot, besides the modernisation of the CETP of Panipat-based textile clusters in Haryana.

Mr Lal who was here on a visit had held talks with members of the city-based Thelungupalayam textile processing industries regarding their proposal on setting up a modern common effluent treatment plant under the TCIDS. He told Business Line that two of the eight common effluent treatment plant projects from Tirupur have also submitted to the State Government their proposed modernisation projects for consideration under the TCIDS funding.

Another operating cluster of textile processing units coming under the Perundurai SIPCOT industrial estate in Erode is also preparing a modernisation project for CETP under the TCIDS funding.

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