DMK seeks more govt support for local entrepreneurs

DMK MLA and former Minister KKSSR Ramachandran in the Assembly session on Thursday demanded the State government to promote local entrepreneurs in Tamil Nadu rather than promoting corporates.

By :  migrator
Update: 2019-07-11 20:57 GMT
File photo of KKSSR Ramachandran

Chennai

Addressing the Assembly on the demand of grants on Industries Department, Ramachandran said, “In cities like Coimbatore and Salem, local trade is flourishing and it has made the cities self-sufficient. The State government should promote such local businesses by giving them incentives rather than promoting corporates”.


Mentioning how in the AIADMK government’s rule over 50,000 commercial units, including a large number of garment factories, paper mills and sugar mills, were shut down, Ramachandran said the government should revive the textile industry by giving them incentives as many of them have moved to Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat.


State Education Minister K A Sengottaiyan, however, replied that Tamil Nadu is the leader in textiles industry in India and that it has the largest number of textile plants in the entire country.


State Electricity Minister, P Thangamani, too attempted to clarify by stating that the government is following the same principle with all companies. “The State is giving the same set of incentives for all the companies irrespective of their size. Local entrepreneurs are not differentiated by the State and they receive all the incentives received by the corporates,” he said.


The Minister further said that the reason for textile units moving to Gujarat is due to the cheaper availability of cotton there, as it is the leader in production of cotton, and added that the reason for units moving to Andhra Pradesh was due to power incentives. “Incentives are provided only to industries who use more than 2 lakh units per month, but a majority of the units do not use so many units and so many are now planning to return to Tamil Nadu,” said Thangamani.


‘Need to revivecracker units’


MLA Ramachandran on Thursday further demanded the State government to take steps to revive cracker manufacturing units. “More than seven lakh people are dependent on cracker industry in and around Sivakasi, but now there is uncertainty over their ability to continue production in the upcoming year. The government should revive the cracker units and ensure that the livelihood of the people is not affected”, he said.


State Dairy Minister, K T Rajenthra Bhalaji, meanwhile, replied that Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami has appointed two best advocates in the Supreme Court to fight for the rights of the cracker industry in Tamil Nadu. Mentioning how Palaniswami was so concerned about the welfare of those people working in the cracker industry that he met them even at night, the Minister added that production is going on well enough eyeing Deepavali and that the government will make sure that the cracker units function regularly.

INDUSTRIAL, FOOD PARKS, ENGINEERING HUB ON CARDS

11 new industrial parks over an area of 8,785 acres would be set up in the State. Among them, land acquisition has been completed for the Tindivanam and Manapparai industrial parks and environment impact assessment work is under progress
  • SIPCOT will set up five industrial parks in a total area of 14,090 acres in Ramanathapuram, Dindigul, Theni, Virudhunagar, Thoothukudi and Tirunelveli
  • SIPCOT proposes to develop food parks at five industrial parks  such as Bargur, Cheyyar, Tindivanam, Manapparai and Thoothukudi. Each food park will be set up over an area of 100-150 acres
  • TIDCO is involved in the process of establishing a heavy engineering components hub in Tiruvallur district and a national investment and manufacturing zone in Ramanathapuram district
  • TIDCO along with TIDEL will establish an advanced computing and design engineering centre project for aerospace and defence industries in Sriperumbudur Aerospace park

Visit news.dtnext.in to explore our interactive epaper!

Download the DT Next app for more exciting features!

Click here for iOS

Click here for Android

Similar News