KTR seeks Rs 897 crore for Telangana textile industry

Sircilla: Industries Minister KT Rama Rao on Friday urged Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaramanand Textiles Minister Piyush Goyal to support various works taken up in handloom and textile sector in the State.

KTR requested the Centre to sanction Mega Powerloom Cluster at Sircilla and sanction an amount of Rs 49.84 crore from the projected outlay of Rs 993.65 crore towards filling various gaps and to implement the components which include infrastructure, modernisation, expansion of production base, strengthen of value chain, market development, skill development, capacity building and administration, studies and project monitoring costs of textile park, weaving and apparel park at Sircilla. The minister requested to sanction Rs 897.92 crore for taking up infrastructure works at Kakatiya Mega Textile Park in Warangal.

He also requested early approval of the project. He urged the Centre to finalise the policy for development of Manufacturing Regions for Textile and Apparel Sector (MRTA)' so that projects of such scale like KMTP can be suitably benefited.

Stating that the Indian Institute of Handloom Technology at Venkatagiri has gone to the residuary state of Andhra Pradesh after bifurcation and at present there was no such institute in Telangana to offer courses in diploma in handloom technology. The minister wanted the Centre to establish such institute in Telangana.

He said he had already written several times to Union minister Nirmala Sitharaman and others regarding the funds under the scheme. Speaking to the media here on Friday he also wanted handloom clusters sanctioned to Pochampally, Gadwala, Narayanpeta, Dubbaka, Kamalapur, Jammikunta, Nallagonda.

If the Centre gives 50 per cent funds for modernisation of handlooms, the State would give 50 per cent. Several letters written to the Union Ministers asking them to sanction the National Textile Research Institute for Telangana remained unanswered, Rama Rao complained.

He alleged that the Modi government introduced seven budgets so far but the Centre has not heeded a single request made by the State government. At least now the Centre should make allocations for Telangana handloom industry in the budget it would introduce on February 1.

Sircilla is in the Karimnagar parliamentary constituency, the BJP leader and Karimnagar MP Bandy Sanjay Kumar should ensure sanction of central funds in the budget. So far asked for the funds eight times if patience was lost a fight for the State's rights launched, he cautioned.

Referring to the Covid situation, Rama Rao said a fever survey started in the district where 479 teams together will survey over a lakh households in six days. Necessary home isolation kits would be provided along with required medicines and other facilities.

He conducted a review on the Dalit Bandhu programme and said the constituency has to select 100 beneficiaries by March 31. He directed the district Collector to select Dalit Bandhu beneficiaries transparently.