Rana assails closure of AEPC office

Former Union textiles minister Kashiram Rana has criticised the textiles ministry's decision to shut down the Surat office of Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC). He assured that the office will be restarted if the Bharatiya Janata Party comes back to power at the Centre.

"I even spoke to textiles minister Shankersinh Vaghela, who said that he will do something about it, but it appears that the UPA government is bent on reversing all the policies and decisions of the NDA government," Rana said in Ahmedabad on Wednesday.

Rana, who is also the sitting member of Parliament from Surat, said exporters are being hit hard as they do not have easy access to information regarding prospective overseas markets and procedures to be followed for exports.

Rana said before the Surat branch of AEPC was started five years back, exporters did not have adequate information and the office served as a platform for exporters.

"The NDA government was in the process of strengthening the AEPC office with more manpower and infrastructure. But, the current government has closed it down," he lamented.

The Surat office of AEPC was closed in January 1, 2005, and merged with the Mumbai office of the council. The decision to wind up the AEPC offices (seven others were closed down) was taken at the council's board meeting in November.

Earlier, it was decided that the offices would be closed from April 1, but the government pre-poned the closure date. The central government's decision has drawn flak from the Southern Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Surat textile community.