SURAT: Farmers from the coastal villages in Olpaad taluka have sought immediate intervention of the industries department to stop the process of allotting the government land at Pinjrat for the development of mega textile park by the Southern Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SGCCI).The Khedut Samaj Gujarat (KSG) has written a letter to Gujarat Industries commissioner, Mamta Verma , opposing the mega textile park proposed by the SGCCI. The KSG has stated that the proposed park will destroy mangroves along the coast near Pinjrat and will harm the environment besides rendering many fishermen jobless.Farmer leader and KGS member, Darshan Nayak told TOI, "Farmers are not against the development of industries in the region, but they are concerned that the setting up of the park will harm environment and affect hundreds of fishermen. The villagers around Pinjrat, Dabheri, Tena etc. are worried and have demanded that state government should not allot land for the park development."Nayak added, "The farmers are preparing to carry out agitation, if need be to pressurize the government on this issue."For the mega textile park, SGCCI has formed a special purpose vehicle (SPV)—Textile Processing Park Association (TPPA). The park will be set up on 70 lakh square meter of land owned by the state government with the initial investment of Rs 1,500 crore.The park will accommodate around 100 textile processing units, 40 water jet weaving units, around 225 garmenting units and other textile ancillary units.As per the proposed plan, the mega textile park will house giant textile processing units, each having average capacity of manufacturing over 3 lakh meters of fabric per day. Around 50% of the fabric manufactured in the processing units will be converted into home textiles and garments. The rest of the fabric will be sold outside the state.Talking with TOI, president of SGCCI, BS Agarwal said, "We have carried out the environmental impact survey of the land, where we want to set up the park. While a huge area is having mud flex, we get around 277 hectare of land for the park development. The government land demanded by us does not fall under the Coastal Regulatory Zone (CRZ) Act."Agarwal added, "The development of mega park will change the face of the coastal villages. A lot of unemployed youths will get employment in the textile mills."

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