Virudhunagar, near Madurai in Tamil Nadu, will house one of the handloom clusters announced in the Union Budget 2009, according to Union Minister for Textiles Dayanidhi Maran.
Speaking to reporters during the silver jubilee exports award function of the Handloom Export Promotion Council (HEPC), Maran said the Centre would allocate Rs 70 crore for the cluster, which would provide direct and indirect jobs for about 50,000 people. The handloom cluster in West Bengal would also get the same amount of funds though the location was yet to be identified, he added.
The cluster at Virudhunagar will be one of the five integrated handloom parks to be set up in the state with an outlay of Rs 475 crore, said Tamil Nadu deputy chief minister MK Stalin.
According to him, around 25,000 weavers are already working in and around Madurai — the main reason for choosing the place for the handloom cluster.
This apart, the state has allocated Rs 25 crore to train weavers in modern designs and technologies through the National Institute of Fashion Technology, Chennai.
On the marine discharge project to be implemented for the effluents from dyeing units, Stalin said the state had made an outlay of Rs 900 crore for the project, especially for the units in Erode, Kumarapalayam and Karur. A meeting with environment minister Jairam Ramesh is scheduled to be held tomorrow in New Delhi, where the funding pattern would be discussed.
The state already has common effluent treatment plants and has achieved zero effluent discharge, he said. Textile Eco Solutions Tamil Nadu, a special purpose vehicle, has also been formed for implementing the project.
