Political parties in Tamil Nadu should come together to take up with the Centre issues that were of interest to the State, said Union Minister of State Pon. Radhakrishnan here on Sunday.
He was here to attend the ‘Strategies for Making Indian Textile Industry Globally Competitive’ meeting organised by the Texpreneurs Forum, South India Hosiery Manufacturers Association, Karur Exporters Association, Erode Textile and Garments Exporters Association, PDEXCIL, Sripuram Trust, NIFT-TEA and Tamil Nadu Autoloom Cloth Merchants’ Association.
Several States made use of the Centre’s quick decision-taking ability to speed up works. And, the political parties had joined hands in those States and their Members of Parliament were espousing their States’ cause in Parliament. “But there is disunity among political parties in Tamil Nadu,” he said.
As promised by him in July that he would facilitate a meeting of industrialists in the State with various Central Ministers to address their needs and improve the ease of doing business, Mr. Radhakrishnan said he had already taken it up with his Cabinet colleagues.
Port in Colachel
From his Ministry, he was exploring the possibility of setting up a port in Colachel in Kanyakumari district and that the preparatory work was at an advanced stage, the Minister said and sought industrialists’ support in setting up the port. The representatives of Texpreneurs Forum sought rationalisation the duty structure on polyester, removal of the regulation on hank yarn production, facilitation for setting up solar power plants on textile mills’ premises and increase in fund allocation under the Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme.