Owners willing to shift 55 textile mills out of Surat

SURAT: After more than five decades, about 55 owners of

textile

dyeing and printing mills located within Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) areas have agreed to shift them out of the city limits to help reduce the problem of air and water pollution.

A meeting was held under the leadership of South

Gujarat

Textile Processors’ Association (SGTPA) on Tuesday where the textile mill owners said they are willing to shift their units outside the city areas. A SGTPA delegation will be meeting chief minister Vijay Rupani and industries minister Saurabh Patel to demand allotment of land on the outskirts of the city for the mills.

About 65

textile mills

are operating in the city’s residential areas like Khatodara, Udhana, Ashwani Kumar Road, Ved Road, Bombay Market and Puna Kumbharia. Particulate Matter (PM10) level is exceedingly high than the national annual average at 184 per micrograms per cubic meter of air (UG/M3) per annum in these areas.

SGTPA president Jitu Vakharia told TOI, “More than 55 textile mill owners are willing to shift their units out of the city. We will be meeting the chief minister in next few days with the proposal. We want the land to be allotted at government rate and that we will develop rest of the infrastructure.”

In the past, diamond industry leaders and residents in Rustompura had organized protests to demand shifting of these polluting textile mills.

Three years ago when the original development plan of Surat Urban Development Authority (SUDA) was prepared, a plot of land in Pinjrat near Olpad was earmarked for relocation of the textile mills in the city. The plan was shelved due to CRZ and opposition from villagers. It is expected that new development plan of SUDA will have a specified area marked for the textile mills.