The textile ministry has sanctioned 24 new textile parks for 11 states under the scheme for integrated textile parks (SITP) in the last two years, but Odisha government is yet to take any initiative to design such plan at Choudwar and Bhadrak.

Textiles minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar informed that he has not received any proposal from Odisha government so far. They have been asking the states to send their proposals and will certainly consider, if any such comes from Odisha.

The project cost under the scheme will be funded through a mix of equity or grant from the ministry. As per scheme guidelines, the centre’s support is limited to 40 percent of the project cost with a maximum ceiling of Rs40 crore for parks. Apart from providing land for the textiles park, infrastructure development with common facility is the responsibility of the state government concerned.

Last year, chief minister Naveen Patnaik had announced for setting up two integrated textile parks at Cuttack and Bhadrak. The SITP has been simplified and re-oriented towards less industrialized states, Gangwar said, pointing out that only 60 textile parks were established by the UPA government during the last 10 years.

The ministry is promoting handicrafts under ‘Linking Textiles with Tourism’. Raghurajpur near Pipli is one of the special projects for Integrated Development and Promotion of Handicrafts sanctioned by the ministry with financial assistance of Rs10 crore.