According to the Union Textile Minister, Mr Dayanidhi Maran, his ministry is hopeful of finding a lasting solution to the long pending effluent discharge problems faced by the textile clusters of Tamil Nadu.
He said if the issue is not resolved urgently, it will put at stake hundreds of thousands of jobs in the textile sector which are located in various parts of Tamil Nadu like Erode, Tirupur, Karur and other places.
He said the root cause of the problem is that there is no nodal agency to monitor and implement the effluent treatment scheme for the polluting textile units, the undertaking for which had been given by the government to the Supreme Court.
Speaking at the silver jubilee awards function of the Handloom Export Promotion Council (HPEC), he also announced that a handllom cluster will be set up in Virudhanagar in Tamil Nadu at a cost of Rs 700 million.
This, he said will provide direct employment to around 25,000 people and indirect employment to another 50,000 people. He also added by saying that land for setting up the handloom cluster in West Bengal is yet to be identified.
He said these clusters would help the handloom weavers in marketing of their products as well as improving their productivity and wants to give a thrust to handloom exports, since the country boasts of a rich handloom culture.
Fibre2fashion News Desk - India