Centre to help Odisha set up of mega Textile Park

--declares Rs 10-cr assistance for Raghurajpur

--Incubation centre in NIFT Odisha soon

BHUBANESWAR: Union Minister for Textiles Santosh Gangwar while attending a national workshop here on Thursday suggested the Odisha Government to apply for a mega Textile Park in the State to promote handloom and fashion.

Addressing the gathering at the inaugural ceremony of the workshop on ‘Promotion of Handloom and Fashion’ organised at the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), Gangwar said the Union Ministry of Textiles has changed its guidelines to help some States like Odisha set up the Textile Parks. According to the old guidelines, business houses were applying for the parks, but now the State Governments could apply for such facilities, he said.

If Odisha wants to apply for a Textile Park like other 63 parks across the country, Gangwar said, it has to submit its application before February 5. Besides, the State has to ensure that it has the required suitable land of 10 to 25 acres, he added.

He said the project would cost around Rs 100 crore, but the Ministry of Textiles would give Rs 40-crore assistance for establishment of the park in the State. “As Odisha has around two lakh talented artisans and weavers, the park will help them in building capacity and to showcase their talents before the world.

Gangwar in the presence of Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and Textiles Minister of Odisha Snehangini Chhuria declared an assistance of Rs 10 crore for development of the art and craft village Raghurajpur in Puri district in order to improve textile tourism in the State. He said the money would be used for development of infrastructure of the village along with capacity building of artisans and marketing of artworks of the villagers. 

The Union Minister also said that his Ministry has planned to market products of weavers through e-retail giant Flipcart, an e-commerce website, to give more benefit to poor weavers and artisans.   

He said the Central Government would sanction Rs 12 crore for establishment of an incubation centre under the NIFT to help budding entrepreneurs. A three-acre site for the centre has been demarcated behind the NIFT here, official sources said. 

Chief Minister Patnaik thanked the Union Textiles Minister for sanctioning Rs 10 crore for development of Raghurajpur. He praised the NIFT for initiating action to bring handloom weavers and fashion designers together for reinventing handloom with fashion, infusing new ideas for producing a wide range of products as per the liking of the customers.

Among others, Union Secretary of Textiles Ministry Sanjay Panda, Bhubaneswar MP Prasanna Patsani and NIFT officials were present in the inaugural ceremony of the workshop.