Bengal slips in textile sector

The construction work for an apparel park in West Bengal is expected to begin this month with real estate firm, Shapoorji Pallonji, developing it within the next 15 months at Sector V near Salt lake.

The project was scheduled to get commissioned by early 2008, but land for the project could not be acquired for more than 18 months.

States like Gujarat and Maharashtra bagged a major share of the subsidy under the Scheme for Integrated Textile Parks (SITP), with each state setting up six textile parks under the scheme. In Tamil Nadu, five apparel parks would be built in the 10th Plan. In Andhra Pradesh, four textile parks were sanctioned under SITP plan.

According to Abhijit Som, Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Ltd, "Entrepreneurs in states like Gujarat and Maharashtra are more enterprising. This was the reason that more number of applications were received from the two states, and subsequently sanctioned."

Of the Rs 2,428 crore projected total project cost for developing the 26 parks, West Bengal applied for only Rs 109 crore.

This apart, the state failed to get funds under the central-sponsored technology up-gradation fund scheme (TUFS), admitted N M Mugadur, joint textile commissioner, the Union ministry of textiles.

Of the Rs 86,000 crore sanctioned since the inception of the scheme in April 1999, West Bengal till March 2007 got only Rs 1,000 crore.

Other states provided more incentives to textiles units than West Bengal, Ashok Hazra, officer in charge, regional office of the textile commissioner, said. "We have seen that whatever modernistion is taking place in the textiles industry by way of TUFS or SITP is limited to Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Punjab and Rajasthan, even though central schemes are uniformly applicable to all states," he said.