South India Textile Research Association (SITRA), a textile research organisation here, plans to set up a centre of excellence in Tiruppur as a joint initiative with the Dyers Association of Tiruppur.
SITRA Director Prakash Vasudevan told The Hindu SITRA was working with Tiruppur cluster for almost eight years and wanted to promote green processing among textile units in the cluster. “We presented a proposal to Union Textile Minister Piyush Goyal when he visited Coimbatore recently. We will make a presentation jointly with the Dyers Association to the Ministry again,” he said.
The plan was to set up a centre in Tiruppur, train processing sector personnel, promote use of eco-friendly chemicals, reduce use of water and energy, have a laboratory, demonstrate new technologies, and offer certifications too. “This will be an exhaustive facility that will come up at a cost of ₹70 crore to ₹80 crore,” he said.
SITRA had worked with the spinning sector for several decades, extended its work to medical textiles, and wanted to strengthen its research and expand its work to the knitwear cluster in Tiruppur, he added.
Gandhi Rajan, president of the Dyers Association of Tirupur, said the Association would provide space to SITRA to set up a facility and train the stakeholders of the processing sector initially. Tiruppur, with 300 dyeing units connected to 18 Common Effluent Treatment Plants and 60 processing units with individual treatment plants, was the largest textile processing cluster in the State and recycled nearly 12 crore litres of water a day. “We plan to have an agreement with SITRA soon. It will give a prepare a joint proposal and submit it to the Union Textile Ministry to set up a centre of excellence,” he said.
