CHENNAI: Chief Minister MK Stalin on Wednesday sought Union government funds for the mega textile park proposed in Salem at a cost of Rs 880 crore. The announcement for the textile park was made during the budget presented by Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan on Monday.
Speaking after signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the launch of India’s first Pradhan Mantri Mega Integrated Textile Region and Apparel Park (PM MITRA Park) in E Kumaralingapuram in Virudhunagar district in the presence of Piyush Goyal Union Minister for Textiles, Commerce, Industry, Consumer affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Stalin said the state is ready to provide 25% of funding for the proposed textile park.
Urging the Centre to support the state to become the textile hub of south Asia and help become $1 trillion economy by the year 2030-2031, the Chief Minister also invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Goyal to lay the foundation stone for the PM MITRA Park. This comes after Goyal hinted on visiting Srivilliputhur Andal Temple if he and Prime Minister are invited for the laying of foundation stone for the Rs 10,000 crore project.
Highlighting the importance of the PM MITRA Park, Stalin said once the park, which will come up in 1,052 acres of Sipcot land, becomes fully functional, it will provide employment to about 2 lakh youth and will give a big boost to the economic development of the southern districts. “Tamil Nadu government has been working with a view to ensure that Industrial development is widespread in all the districts, especially in the southern districts, giving priority to Industrial development,” he said.
Interestingly, the signing of MoU generated quite an excitement as Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to Twitter and stated it was a special day for Tamil Nadu, and PM MITRA mega Textiles Park will boost the local economy and will enable the state to have a share in the man-made fibre and technical textiles globally thus boosting India’s efforts to be a global hub for textiles. He was reacting to Goyal’s tweet who highlighted that the signing of MoU was a giant leap for India’s textiles sector.
The Virudhnagar PM MITRA Park is among the seven such proposals announced by the Centre. The other six parks will come up in Telangana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh under the Rs 4,445 crore PM MITRA scheme. The parks will create 20 lakh direct and indirect employment opportunities and attract an estimated Rs 70,000 crore of domestic and foreign investment for setting up state-of-the-art infrastructure, Goyal said.
The event also saw sloganeering with both BJP and DMK cadres cheering their leaders. However, the mood in the dias was more of warmth as both Goyal, Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting L Murugan and Union Minister of state for Textiles and and Railways Darshana Vikram Jardosh showered praises on Chief Minister’s leadership while Stalin and state ministers Thangam Thennarasu, KKSSR Ramachandran thanked the Prime Minister for sanctioning such a mega project.