Raw material crunch at Jetpur units

Jetpur near Rajkot in Saurashtra region, once a dyeing and print processing hub of the state, has been facing acute problem of procuring raw material.

However a proposal for setting up a state-of-the-art Textiles Apparel Park at Pithadiya near Jetpur has re-instilled enthusiasm among the textile dying-printing professionals.

"One of the major factors, through which the trade is passing is procurement of raw materials, because units in Jetpur are mainly engaged in printing textiles and presently we are procuring raw material from ginning units located in surrounding areas chiefly from Manavadar, Gondal and Shapar-Veraval," claims Virjibhai Vekaria, President of Jetpur Dying & Printing Association.

The spinning and weaving material which goes mainly into and dyeing and processing industry is not available in the region and so the industry is hopeful that the park will work as centre to supply much required raw material for the units in Jetpur said Vekaria.

Jetpur industry processes orders received from the business circuits of Calcutta and Mumbai, which is a mere jobwork, he adds. None of the units located at Jetpur are full-fledgedl into manufacturing or production process of finished textiles goods, as majority of business establishments in city work on traditional business platform and secondly availing raw-material for such business operations is headache, explains Vekaria.

Foreign trade for products from Jetpur has also marginally suffered in last few years and hence it becomes necessary to find new vistas and avenues for surviving into the profession; in which we have been engaged since last three generations, he adds.

Secondly, we process a single saree somewhere between Rs.20/- to Rs.40/- per piece, as a result business volumes are pretty high but profit margins are extremely low, so doubling our capacity or probably diversifying business in similar trade is the only way out for us, argues Vekaria.

Initial road-blocks were there in procuring the land, as farmers agitated procurement of adjoining lands, because pollution issues in past compel residents in those areas to resist such a development, "Ghats operated by this dying-printing walas have polluted the land to such an extent, that precipitations of the hard coloured water gets deposited on the land and nearby areas wherever they dispose off this liquid. As a result water levels here go down as land is chocked with such precipitations, which even affects the fertility of our land, if at all water is pumped out from the land "� its coloured and highly injurious to health," says Nathabhai Patel, local farmer from Pithadiya.

As the agriculture belt in this region produces groundnuts and cotton in abundance, probability of losses in livelihood was not acceptable by the farmers.

However, administration taking utmost care in balancing the development and rural economy has finally worked out positively and orders for procuring land have been shot, "After working out amicable solution in this direction, District Collectorate has issued orders for procuring 50 acres of land," explains M A Jagani, Jetpur Mamlatdar.

Further procedural parameters are being co-ordinated by Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC), for letting the project experience the real business buzz, he adds.

Present the business turnover and employment opportunities are likely to double with Textiles appearal park shaping up near Jetpur, "Presently the business volume of entire trade ranges somewhere between Rs.85 crores to Rs.100 crores per annum engaging 20,000 employees, which is likely to double as we are perceiving atleast another 100 units shaping-up here with additional weaving and spinning units also proposed in this textile facility shaping up near Jetpur "� which would again attract few to go for manufacturing too resulting increase in terms of man-power with increasing facilities," says Vekaria.

With Textiles apparel park shaping up we expect another 20,000 people to earn their livelihood from this area, as there would be a huge demand of manpower having expertise in textiles sector and secondly turnover of our business are also likely to scale somewhere between Rs. 190 crores to Rs. 200 crore per annum, because apart from procuring raw materials from ginning units, we would also be able to process raw material in form of semi-finished products procured from spinning and weaving units, which are proposed here, adds Vekaria.