Select land to set up jeans park in Ballari: CM Siddaramaiah to officials
BALLARI: Congress MP Rahul Gandhi’s pre-poll promise to make Ballari the jeans capital of India has moved one step closer to becoming a reality. The Karnataka government has directed the authorities concerned in Ballari to choose land to set up a jeans textile park in the district. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah held a meeting with elected representatives from Ballari district and instructed district minister B Nagendra and Ballari City MLA Nara Bharath Reddy to find land to construct the jeans textile park and soon prepare a Detailed Project Report.
Apart from the five guarantees ahead of the May 10 Karnataka Assembly elections, former Congress chief and Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi had promised Rs 5,000 crore to set up an apparel park in Ballari. Rahul had even recently written to the State Government in this regard. MLA Nara Bharath Reddy told TNIE that CM Siddaramaiah convened a meeting with all the MLAs of Ballari and discussed the projects being implemented in the district.
The MLA said it was a long-pending demand of jeans manufacturers to have a separate textile park in the district. “Our government has taken steps in the right direction to make Ballari the jeans capital. The CM has instructed us to prepare a DPR and look for suitable land in Ballari city to construct the textile park.
We will submit the DPR at the earliest. I will discuss the same with the district administration and prepare a list of vacant government lands,” the MLA said. Several jeans manufacturers that TNIE spoke to are happy with the recent developments. “We hope that the government will soon implement the project. We are waiting for the textile park to be set up in the district as it will let us market our products in one place... it will also make Ballari the jeans capital of the country,” a jeans manufacturer told TNIE.