Bengal textile policy soon

West Bengal government plans to announce a new textile policy soon in order to help aid the growth of the textile industry in the State.

The State Minister of Irrigation, Waterways, MSME and Textiles, Dr Manas Ranjan Bhunia, on Tuesday said that the policy would primarily revolve around the revival of handloom and powerloom sectors in the State.

“The State had a potential powerloom sector but that has been in the lull for the last few years, the condition of spinning mills is in a bad shape and calls for modernization. We are therefore coming out with a textile policy to address these issues at the earliest,” Dr Bhunia said while speaking at an interactive session organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry here today.

The garment and hosiery industry in the state has not witnessed adequate growth over the last couple of years, despite a strong demand.

“A major share of West Bengal's demand for garments and hosiery is currently being met by Bangladesh or the southern states in the country. This is due to the lack of a strong textile policy,” he said. The State government plans to set up separate committees for industry and textile to look into the issues.

West Bengal government also plans to conduct zonal meetings in order to facilitate the implementation of various key decisions at the grass root level.

“In many instances there are problems of implementation of policy at grass root level so we plan to have meetings in four zones – south, north, west and east involving various stakeholders. This will be done to motivate the various sectors such as cottage industry, sericulture, handlooms and handicrafts among others,” he pointed out.

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