Chennai, Feb 26 (Inditop.com) The knitwear exporters of Tamil Nadu’s Tirupur are happy with Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s Rs.200-crore grant for setting up a common effluent treatment plant there.
“The textile cluster for knitwear in Tirupur in Tamil Nadu is a major contributor to the country’s hosiery exports. I propose to provide a one-time grant of Rs.200 crore to the government of Tamil Nadu towards the cost of installation of a zero liquid discharge system at Tirupur to sustain this industry, which provides livelihood to lakhs of persons, without undermining the environment,” Mukherjee said in his budget speech.
A. Sakthivel, president of the Tirupur Exporters Association, welcomed the announcement and told Inditop: “It is a long pending demand of the exporters here. This was accomplished by the efforts of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi and Union Textiles Minister Dayanidhi Maran.”
According to him, the association has already spent around Rs.800 crore on setting up of an effluent treatment plant.
“The state government has promised to provide Rs.120 crore and the now the union government has announced Rs.200 crore. With this, all the units will be connected to the effluent treatment plant,” he added.
The Supreme Court had passed a judgment, imposing a fine of Rs.55 crore on the dyeing and bleaching units in Tirupur for polluting the Noyyal river.
The effluents discharged by the units also spoilt the ground water.
He also welcomed Mukherjee’s proposal to extend the two percent interest subvention for one more year, the launch of a skill development programme in the textile sector and the allocation of Rs.2,400 crore for the Textile Upgradation Fund.
