Powerlooms: Over 1K proposals received, entails investment of about Rs 162 crore
KOLKATA: The state government has received an overwhelming response under the ‘Powerloom Incentive Policy’ in only seven months having received 1,161 new proposals for setting up shuttle-less looms in the state that is expected to entail a potential investment of Rs 162.79 crore.
The incentive policy aimed at becoming self-dependent in garment production particularly school uniforms for children was launched on December 30, 2021.
Interestingly proposals have been received from various districts that do not have a single powerloom. The highest number of proposals of 231 powerlooms were received from North 24-Parganas followed by Hooghly from where 204 proposals have been received. North 24-Parganas has only 2 old looms while Hooghly has 8.
“The technical vetting has been completed for 1006 looms out of the total 1161 proposals,” a senior official of the state Micro Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME) & Textiles department said. The highest potential investment of Rs 36.38 for setting up 96 shuttleless powerlooms has come from West Burdwan. This district presently does not have a single powerloom.
Nadia district that presently has 348 powerlooms the highest in the state has received 60 new proposals under the incentive scheme. East Burdwan that has 84 looms has got 15 fresh proposals under the incentive scheme while Murshidabad with 30 receiving 66 fresh proposals. Howrah presently having 24 old powerlooms has got 116 fresh proposals with proposed
investment of Rs 13.99 crore.
Bankura, South 24-Parganas, Purulia, East Midnapore that does not have a single existing powerloom has submitted proposals of setting up 144,78,46 and 49 shuttle less looms respectively. 48 new proposals have come from North Dinajpur and 8 from Cooch Behar.
The state government has not yet received a single proposal from Alipurduar, Birbhum, South Dinajpur, Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Jhargram, Kalimpong, Malda, West Midnapore and Kolkata. Among these districts only South Dinajpur has 4 existing powerlooms.
“The powerlooms that have
evinced interest to produce fabric (cloth) abiding government norms will be provided with thread by Tantuja that will purchase the fabric from the producers for a period of three years. The state government will bear 20 per cent of the machine cost which will be needed for these new age shuttle-less power looms for production of improved quality fabrics,” the official added.
The state government at present requires six crore metres of suiting and shirting lengths to supply two sets of uniforms to students across the state. As of now, the cloth is procured from outside Bengal mainly from Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh.