The Hindu : Front Page : Dharmapuri has potential to emerge as a garment hub

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Sep 08, 2006

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Dharmapuri has potential to emerge as a garment hub

S. Prasad & M. Gunasekaran

DHARMAPURI/TIRUPUR: Dharmapuri is slowly emerging as a garment hub. Now more than 22 stitching units are functioning around Dharmapuri, employing nearly 500 women.

Reeling under severe shortage of skilled labourers, garment manufacturers from Tirupur and Salem are now supplying fabric through agents to these stitching units.

Proximity to textile hubs of Salem, Erode, Tirupur and Coimbatore on the one side and Bangalore on the other, located on National Highway 7 and well connected by road and rail networks to Chennai port and Bangalore airport are the advantages of the district.

Industrial estate

The State Government has already announced its decision to establish a 1,000-acre industrial estate in the district.

According to R. Senthil, MP, more than 10 per cent of the workforce from major industrial areas including Bangalore, Tirupur and Coimbatore are from Dharmapuri.

Knitwear industry

With the knitwear industry in Tirupur expanding and looking for secondary towns, labour-intensive units such as tailoring could be established in the district.

A delegation will soon leave for Tirupur and Bangalore to invite industrialists to invest in Dharmapuri.

Efforts will made to set up an apparel training centre by the Apparel Export Promotion Council in Dharmapuri, he said.

Power subsidy

Big factories in Tirupur are already moving to villages wherever workforce is available.

Pointing out that the government concessions two decades ago had made Dindigul district a major spinning hub of Tamil Nadu, an exporter in Tirupur says that the industrialists will be keen to set up large-scale production base if they are offered concessions.

" The Governmentshould extend maximum help to the labour-intensive garment industry. Providing electricity at a subsidised rate, waiving land registration fee, investing on training labourers and providing water are some of the concessions the industry is asking," the exporter said.

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