Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday denied reports that the Textile Commissionerate was being moved from Mumbai to Delhi.
The textile commissioner and five other officers were told to sit in the Delhi office for a few days for better coordination with the central government and to restructure MinistryofTextile, he told the assembly.
The remaining 500 staff of the commissionerate will remain in Mumbai, Fadnavis said, adding no decision had been taken to move the office to Delhi.
MVA slams govt
Opposition parties targeted the government after news emerged on Tuesday that the commissionerate was being moved. They alleged that after taking businesses out of Maharashtra, the central government wanted to move offices out of Mumbai.
“There is a lot of textile business in Maharashtra and Gujarat. If there is a plot in Delhi to undermine Mumbai and Maharashtra you [assembly chairman and Devendra Fadnavis] should foil it,” NCP leader Jayant Patil told the assembly.
“Mumbai was known for textile and was called the ‘Manchester of India’,” NCP MLA, Jitendra Awhad told the media. “Mumbai was in top position when it came to the textile industry. The textile commissionerate, which was established in Mumbai in 1943, is now being moved to Delhi. It is clear that the central government wants to underestimate Mumbai and Maharashtra,” he said.
"Restructuring not moving"
As per an order from Jayashree Sivakumar, Under Secretary, Ministry of Textiles, to Textile Commissioner, Mumbai, Roop Rashi, the move is part of measures to “restructure the office of textile commissioner and textile committee in order to enhance effectiveness and achieve optimal use of resources”.
For this, the Textile Commissioner and a few key officials would be relocated to the MoT to strengthen the technical arm of the ministry, and deploy/depute officers/staff from the head office to the TC and field offices.
Besides the textile commissioner, a joint textile commissioner, two deputy secretaries (director rank) and two deputy director level officers will be going to Delhi.
The Textile Commissionerate was set up in 1943 at the height of the Second World War to satisfy the huge British demand for clothing of its armed forces and civilians, and the industry developed in a big way post-Independence.
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