Government is working to revive sick textile mills, including the National Textile Corporation (NTC), a move that will generate more employment.
This assertion came from Textiles Minister Santosh Gangwar during his reply to a debate on the Textile Undertakings (Nationalisation) Laws (Amendment and Validation) Bill, 2014 in the Lok Sabha.
The bill, which replaces an ordinance promulgated some time back, was later passed by the House.
The proposed legislation aims at ensuring proper and effective implementation of the revival scheme for sick textile units.
According to the bill, there is a need "to protect public investment in the acquired textile undertakings to explicitly clarify the status of such vesting of the lease-hold rights in the central government".
Talking about the utility of the measure, Gangwar said, "We want to revive the mills. We want to make a package for the revival."
He said the government needs to evolve various ways and means to run the mills. "It is our objective to give employment to more and more people," the Minister said.
The ordinance route was taken to shield the NTC from rent control laws that have been used to evict its sick textile units from prime land in several cities.
"NTC mills are turning around and government is committed to turning them around. NTC has properties worth Rs 25 lakh crore. The Bill would help to run the NTC smoothly so that in future there is no complaint against the runing of NTC," Gangwar said while moving the bill.
Members in the opposition wanted the government to ensure that NTC land is effectively utilised given the fact that the land worth of NTC is more than that of gold.
