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Malegaon:
On ventilator since 1992, the
textile industry in Malegaon is now banking on the 26th December
meeting called by the Ministry of Textiles in New Delhi for its
survival. The meeting called by the ministry has in its agenda
measures for the textile sector to be included in the 12th five
year plan which commences from April 01, 2012.
More than 50 people working in the textile industry have been
invited from all across the country for Monday’s meeting. Besides
Mrs. Sunaina Tomar, Joint Secretary Ministry of Textiles, who will
chair the meeting, it will also be addressed by Secretary Textiles
Mrs. Rita Menon, Ishwar Sharan of the Ministry of Textiles
informed ummid.com.
Giving further details of the meeting Khurshid Ansari, president
of the Malegaon Industries and Manufacturers Association (MIMA),
who is attending the meeting with three of his team members on the
invitation of the ministry to represent Malegaon textile cluster
says, Monday’s meeting with the Planning Commission is part of its
consultations with experts from different fields to make the 12th
five year plan more inclusive.
He says with the same motive MIMA is
working with the Planning Commission since 2007 and has demanded
to include a special package for Malegaon in the 12th five year
plan.
“Textile industry is largest after the agriculture industry in
terms of employment generation and turnover. It is strange against
this backdrop that the Maharashtra government does not have any
policy for this sector. We are tired of this negligence by the
state.
"If the government at the centre
does not intervene at this juncture and take some tough decisions
in the 12th five year plan as promised in its last various
meetings, the industry will face a severe blow and the worst
affected will be the poor weavers of Malegaon”, he says.
Of the total 2.1 million powerlooms in India, about 1 million
powerlooms are in Maharashtra. Out of this Malegaon alone has
around 2 lakh powerlooms. An estimated 90% people of the total 6,
50,000+ population of Malegaon depends directly and indirectly on
the textile industry. However, except for the occasional booms,
the market has remained by and large sluggish since 1992.
“In fact, till Diwali the condition was such that most of the
weavers had run out of capital due to the continuous loss and over
70% powerloom units were closed. Things are a bit better now but a
paradigm shift in the textile policy is needed as a permanent
solution”, Ansari says.
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