Yogi Govt is looking to make UP a major textile hub in the Asia

By VIRENDRA SINGH RAWAT

LUCKNOW, Dec 1 (The CONNECT) – The Uttar Pradesh government has rolled out an ambitious scheme to energise the long-neglected Handloom sector solar power.

Under the plan, the Yogi Adityanath government 2.0 will give incentives to weavers using solar energy in their workshops. These workplaces will also be equipped with solar inverters.

This is expected to not only help conserve energy, but also facilitate the manufacturing of eco-friendly and quality products for the national and international markets.

“With higher production and consequent economy of scale, the prices will also be competitive in the market,” a government spokesperson said stressing that the state is looking to make UP a major textile hub in the Asian region.

Under the proposed scheme, the general category and Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes category weavers will get a subsidy of 50 percent and 75 percent respectively. They will also get grants under the flagship One District One Product (ODOP) scheme.

In UP, which has a rich tradition of textiles, millions of families depend upon the powerloom and handloom sector for a living in 34 weaver-dominated districts including Varanasi, Bhadohi, Gorakhpur etc. The number of handlooms, handloom weavers and weavers’ cooperatives in the state are estimated at 191,000; 80,000; and 20,421 respectively.

The districts of Mau, Ambedkar Nagar, Varanasi, Meerut, Kanpur, Jhansi, Etawah and Santakbirnagar have a dominant share of powerlooms. The number of powerlooms and its weavers are 258,000 and 550,000 respectively.

Besides, the government has made a provision of Rs 10 crore in the budget to energise powerlooms with solar power. The state is also working to link 50,000 weavers of Varanasi with banks for their uplift and ensure that dearth of capital does not become a hurdle.

So far, 25,000 weavers are registered on the portal of the state handloom department. This is aimed at ushering in these largely unorganised units into an organised umbrella.

Meanwhile, ‘Letters of Comfort’ have been issued to 16 textile units under the UP Handloom, Powerloom, Silk, Textile and Garmenting Policy-2017. These units have made a total investment of almost Rs 200 crore and created fresh job opportunities for 3,243 persons.

Under the National Handloom Development Programme, proposals for 19 handloom clusters have been sent to the central government, whereas a financial assistance of nearly Rs 26 crore has been proposed for their development. This will benefit about 2,600 handloom weavers.

Under the PM Mitra scheme, the process of acquisition of land has started for the establishment of Mega Integrated Textile and Apparel Park in Hardoi. The mega project will provide jobs to nearly half million people.

Besides, land has been arranged for the establishment of Apparel Park in Noida. About 115 export-oriented garment units will be set up with an investment of Rs 3,000 crore, which is likely to provide employment to about 200,000 people.