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Patna: LJP (RV) chief and union minister Chirag Paswan has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to open a mega textile park under ‘PM Mitra Yojana’ in Bhagalpur, known as silk city and also for its huge population of Muslim weavers.
In his letter, Chirag contended that inclusion of a historic town like Bhagalpur in ‘PM Mitra Yojana’ would not only connect the region’s rich historical heritage with modernity but a new direction could be given to the region’s economy.
“Bhagalpur represents India`s ancient and rich tradition of textile industry. Bhagalpuri Silk is known as ‘Queens of Fabrics’ across the world, an identity of Indian handicrafts for centuries. There is still a huge demand for Bhagalpuri silk products in Japan, Europe, West Asia, and other countries. More than 50,000 weaver families are directly or indirectly connected with the silk industry in Bhagalpur,” he added.
Setting up a mega textile park in Bhagalpur will create huge job opportunities, promote entrepreneurship and exports, and social empowerment, he asserted.
As many as seven Mega Integrated Textile Region and Apparel (PM MITRA) parks will be established to enhance the textile sector in the country. These parks will be set up at Virudhunagar (Tamil Nadu), Navsari (Gujarat), Kalaburagi (Karnataka), Dhar (Madhya Pradesh), Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh), Warangal, (Telangana) and Amravati (Maharashtra).
Union Textiles Minister, and BJP MP from Begusarai, Giriraj Singh, faces criticism from his political opponents off and on for not Bihar being selected for a mega textile park. Once when a reporter asked a query on it, Giriraj shot back and said states which fulfilled the criteria were allocated mega textile parks. “Why you ask such a negative question,” he commented, while expressing his anguish over the media query.
RJD MP Sanjay Yadav said that a proposal was sent to the central government for opening a mega textile park at Chanpatia in West Champaran by identifying 1700 acres of land when the industry department was with his party during the former 17-month long grand alliance regime. Bihar fulfills all criteria but still the Centre did not approve a mega textile park, he added.
