Haryana cotton industry upbeat over setting up of Textile Park

Sushil Manav

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 11

The cotton industry in Haryana is upbeat about Union Textile Minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar’s announcement to set up a Textile Park in the state at a cost of Rs 181 crore.

Industry sources said though Haryana is one of the largest producers of cotton in Northern India, there is virtually no market for it in the state so far.

“On an average, Haryana produces 20 lakh bales of cotton every year against 10 lakh bales produced in Punjab and 5 lakh bales in Sri Ganganagar and Hanumangarh districts of Rajasthan. However, while Punjab has over 50 textile units, Rajasthan too has no dearth of textile industry, Haryana has barely three in Hisar district,” said Sushil Kumar Mittal, president of the Haryana Cotton Industries Association (HCIA).

Mittal said while Punjab has consumption of 35 to 40 lakh bales against the production of 10 lakh bales, the cotton industry in Haryana is not able to sell more than 3 lakh bales within the state.

“We have to cough out heavy expenses on transportation of our goods to Punjab, Gujarat or other states,” Mittal said.

He said after the setting up of the Textile Park, their problems would be solved as they would also find market for their produce.

Gurpreet Singh Nagpal, partner in Royal Cotgin at Sirsa and general secretary of the district unit of the HCIA, said their association will take up the matter with the government so that the Textile Park should be opened in Sirsa or Fatehabad.

“Out of 6 lakh hectares of land where cotton is produced in Haryana, nearly 3 lakh hectares is located in Sirsa and Fatehabad alone,” he said.

State Congress president Ashok Tanwar, who represented Sirsa in Parliament from 2009 to 2014, said he had initiated steps to develop Sirsa as a textile hub and the then Minister for Textiles Kavuru Samba Siva Rao had accepted his proposal.

Gangwar had recently said that a Textile Park would be set up in Haryana at a cost of Rs 181 crore and the Central Government would give a subsidy of Rs 40 crore to set up this park.

Also, a Rs 14-crore Incubation Centre would be set up in Haryana for skill development of the youth associated with the textile sector.