Southern Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SGCCI) delegation team met Mr. Vijay Rupani chief minister of Gujarat with the demand for 50 lakh sq m land for textile processing cluster at Pinrat.

Existing industrial areas and housing textile processing mills including Pandesara, Sachin and Palsana have less space for expansion of the units and the capacity of the CETPs has also reduced.

Due to release of treated water in rivers and rivulets, the environment ministry and the Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) is not giving permission to existing CETP’s for expansion.

Mr. Vijay was quite impressed with their plan for the cluster. This will not only reduce air pollution in the city but also reduce the water requirement from Tapi.

An SGCCI team will visit Gandhinagar on October 10 and give a detailed presentation to chief secretary J N Singh on the project.

The total cost for the cluster is pegged at Rs 800 crore of which SGCCI is eyeing 50% central grant and 25% from the state government.

The new cluster will house 100 textile dyeing and printing mills. At present, there are around 400 textile processing centres in Surat and Palsana. Only 5 per cent of these units make finished fabrics required for the garmenting sector, while others are manufacturing fabrics for saris and dress material, home textiles, etc.