Fund flow soon for Apparel Park

WITH LITTLE sign of seamless cash flows, expediting the Apparel Park construction has been difficult for Madhya Pradesh Audyogik Vikas Kendra Nigam (AKVN).

Now, however, the 133-acre facility is likely to be expedited with the Nigam hoping to sew up a fund transfer of Rs 8 crore at a meeting of a State-level committee in Bhopal on January 31.

With a projected cost of Rs 29 crore the Park, bankrolled by the Central and State governments, aims at re-establishing the Malwa region in general, and Indore in particular, as an important textile production centre.

“Of the total cost, Rs 17 crore is to be provided by the Centre with the remaining amount shared by the State Government and the Nigam,” revealed MPAKVN Managing Director Ashish Shrivastava.

Supply of funds from Bhopal, though, has apparently slowed thus hindering work on the Apparel Park. “We’ve already pumped in over Rs 6 crore but have only received Rs 1.6 crore from the State Government so far,” said Shrivastava, an IAS official originally hailing from Delhi.

Afraid, perhaps, of overreaching itself - the Nigam after all, only posted a modest profit of Rs 2 crore during the last fiscal -  MPAKVN officials plan to seek Rs 8 crore during the Bhopal meeting.

Elaborating on expenses Shrivastava informed that money was spent on a common effluent treatment plant (CETP), setting up a dedicated 20 MVA power transformer to prevent electrical carryover from adjoining industries and boundary wall construction.

The Malwa region, has a long history of textile production, with Indore, Ujjain and Dewas being the main clusters. Indore’s textile past can still be found in the etymological origins- Malwa Mill, for instance, and Pardeshipura, so called because it was populated by migrant workers who flocked to the City to work in cotton mills as well as spinning and weaving units.