The state governments urged to speed up approvals in setting up of textile parks, till now 72 textile parks have been sanctioned under the Scheme for Integrated Textile Parks (SITP), which are expected to provide employment to 4.5 lakh people with an investment of Rs 30,000 crore. This was informed by the Textile Minister Gangwar while addressing the state textile minister’s conference.

He also pointed out that there are difficulties in getting environmental clearances in several states. Hence urge the state governments to show interest on this issue and expedite much-needed clearances.

Gangwar said that they had appealed to the Prime Minister that the Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme (TUFS) should be continued in a more organized manner. Therefore, the government is coming out with a modified TUFS scheme, which will be unveiled shortly as the earlier TUFS faced difficulties.

TUFS is being revised to support employment generating and export oriented segments to meet challenges in global market. TUFS was introduced in 1999 to catalyse investments in all the sub-sectors of textiles and jute industry by way of 5 percent interest reimbursement.

Gangwar further said that they have assured the Prime Minister that apparel and garment units will be functional in every north-eastern state in the country by December. Each unit will be set up with an investment of Rs 18.18 crore, with land provided by respective state governments. They believe that the unit in every state will generate 1,500-2,000 jobs from December.

The minister also spoke about the cotton production in the country. This year too, the cotton production is likely to be good although Punjab is facing some difficulties. During 2014-15, Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) procured over 46 lakh bales cotton from 341 centres across the country.

and it would be for the first time that the payments will be electronically transferred directly to bank accounts of cotton farmers.

Besides that the government was making efforts to diversify jute products, especially through women self-help groups and has opened Common Facility Centres in Bihar, West Bengal and Assam.

On increasing silk production in India, he said that an Integrated Silk Production Scheme (ISPS) has been started in the North-East states with an outlay of Rs 722 crore.

Textiles Secretary S K Panda speaking at the conference on textile parks said that they find that in a number of cases, entrepreneurs are facing difficulties in getting land, in getting clearances, in getting electricity connection and hence they need more cooperation from state governments.