Punjab govt to acquire 250 acres, hold demand survey for mega textile park

May 24, 2022

Category: General

Country: India

Published on May 23, 2022 12:22 AM IST | By Navneet Sharma

Chandigarh : The Punjab government plans to acquire another 250 acres of land and undertake a demand survey for the proposed mega textile park in Ludhiana under the PM-MITRA scheme.

The state government has pitched a site in Kum Kalan tehsil of Ludhiana, which has one of the largest textile clusters in north India, for the textile parks project to be set up under the Prime Minister Mega Integrated Textile Region and Apparel (PM-MITRA) scheme. In all, seven parks have been planned by the central government in different parts of the country. Availability of contiguous and encumbrance-free land parcel of over 1,000 acres along with other textiles-related facilities are primary requirements for consideration of any site under the scheme having a total outlay of ₹4,445 crore.

Director-cum-secretary, industries and commerce, Sibin C said there is requirement of 250 acres of land for which the process has already been initiated to meet the 1,000-acre land requirement for the project. Of the site proposed by the state for the big-ticket project, the Greater Ludhiana Area Development Authority (GLADA), a special development authority of the housing and urban development department, owns 957 acres, but 197 acres out of this land parcel is currently under litigation.

The additional land requirement emerged following the discussions a team of the Union ministry of textiles led by special secretary VK Singh had with senior officers of industries department, district administration and GLADA as well as representatives of textile industry during its visit to the state about 10 days ago. An official privy to the discussions said the central team pointed out the need for 1,000 acres encumbrance-free land with contiguity. “As portions of the land available with GLADA are under litigation or under stay by the judicial courts, additional area needs to be acquired to fill the minimum land requirement for the project,” said the official who did not want to be named.

The state industries department has written to the principal secretary, department of housing and urban development, regarding fulfilling the additional land requirement at the earliest. Besides a demand survey from the industry, another issue raised by the textiles ministry’s team during the discussions was road connectivity to the proposed site, especially approach road to the Ludhiana-Rupnagar expressway, to the proposed site, along with its likely date of completion. “These are prerequisites for considering the site for setting up the textile park in the first phase of the scheme,” the official said.

Punjab is among the top 10 states for textile and garment exports, supplying primarily to the US, UAE, UK and Australia.

As per the scheme notified by the central government, the textile parks will be set up at greenfield (fresh) or brownfield (existing) site locations in different states to create an integrated value chain right from spinning, weaving, processing/dyeing and printing to garment manufacturing at a single location. For a greenfield park, the central government’s capital development support will be 30% of project cost with a cap of ₹500 crore. The park will be developed by a special purpose vehicle to be owned by the state government and the central government in a public-private partnership (PPP) mode. The government hopes to generate about one-lakh direct and two-lakh indirect jobs per park.

Courtesy: https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/chandigarh-news/punjab-govt-to-acquire-250-acres-hold-demand-survey-for-mega-textile-park-101653245531707.html