Chennai, Apr 1 : Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin, who is on a four-day official visit to New Delhi, today met on Minister for Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal and urged him to sanction establishment of Mega Textile Park at E. Kumaralingapuram in the southern Virudhunagar District of State under the PM-MITRA scheme. In a memorandum submitted to the Minister, he said the Centre has proposed to establish Mega Textile Parks across the country to achieve scale and reduce logistic costs, which are imperative to compete in the Global Market. The State Government has identified an extent of 1052 acres abutting the National Highway – 44 (Madurai to Kaniyakumari) for the proposed PM- Mega Integrated Textiles Region & Apparel Park (PM-MITRA) Scheme. The entire land is in the possession of State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu Limited (SIPCOT), the agency responsible for developing industrial land in the State. Tamil Nadu, the leading State in Textiles, is keen to participate in this Mega Textile Park Scheme and has submitted Preliminary Project Report for setting up a Textile Park in Virudhunagar District on March 14, 2022 to the on Ministry of Textiles as per the scheme guidelines. He said Tamil Nadu’s request may be considered and the proposed Textile Park may be sanctioned for the State. Apart from seeking new Production linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for Footwear Manufacturing industry, which will increase the productivity of existing players and make India the most favoured destination for footwear exporters, the Chief Minister urged him to transfer balance salt lands to TIDCO early to develop 4000 acres of land in Ponneri Taluk as Industrial Node under Chennai Bengaluru Industrial Corridor (CBIC) scheme of the on Government in association with National Industrial Corridor Development and Implementation Trust (NICDIT). Seeking urgent intervention in controlling the prices of Steel, which is a very important raw material for MSMEs, he also said the export of steel must be controlled and permitted only after the domestic needs are fulfilled at a reasonable price. He also suggested that the National Small Industries Corporation must be asked to buy steel in bulk and provide to MSMEs on a no profit no loss basis, so that MSMEs can benefit from the bulk discount. He also said Steel manufactures should be asked to provide 20 percent discount to MSME customers and that SAIL must take the lead and announce that it will not increase steel prices in the next two months. Stalin also urged the Minister on exchange of Raw Rice for Boiled Rice and sought permission for the Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation (TNCSC) to deposit the surplus custom milled raw rice at one lakh MT per month from April 2022 onwards for KMS 2021-22 in the FCI depots, in exchange for an equivalent quantity of boiled rice from FCI for issue under PDS in Tamil Nadu. He also sought release of Custom Milled Rice (CMR) Subsidy claim due from the Centre to the tune of Rs 4,446.16 crore. He said the TNCSC has raised bills for the reimbursement of CMR subsidy amount from the on Government for the financial years from 2018-19 to 2022-2023 and sought immediate release of the dues. GV 1915
