Bhubaneswar: June 24: Centre has been taking steps to set up textile parks across the country in a big way, which will be linking with tourism. On his visit to the state of Odisha, Union Minister of Textiles Santosh Gangwar said that, government has already set up 24 textile parks in different parts of the country and will now link this key sector with tourism. Also, he mentioned that, during UPA regime, only 16 parks had been set up in ten years whereas NDA government has been promoting this sector by providing Rs 40 crores for the development of each proposed park. Citing example on textile-tourism linkage, Minister said, centre has already provided Rs 10 crore for development of Raghurajpur area in Odisha, which is famous for Pattachitra worldwide. Gangwar alleged that not a single proposal has been received from Odisha government for the development of the garment and apparel sector till date though textile parks have so far been set up in 11 states.
Union Minister of Textiles expressed his confidence that the Rs 6,000 crore package approved by Cabinet will play a major role in giving a boost to the textile and apparel sector, which will not only create employment opportunities, but also meet the challenges from other countries like China, Bangladesh and Myanmar. Union Minister of state for Food Processing Industries, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, who was also present at the press meet, said six mega food parks have been set up in different parts of the country in the last two years while 15 more are now being developed.
