Textiles Minister lays foundation stone for Apparel and Garment Making Centre in Sikkim

New Delhi: Minister of State for Textiles (I/C), Shri Santosh Kumar Gangwar laid the foundation stone for an Apparel & Garment Making Centre in Gangtok, Sikkim today. Chief Minister of Sikkim, Shri Pawan Chamling was also present at the foundation laying ceremony.

Addressing the gathering, the Union Textiles Minister said that the scheme for setting up of Apparel and Garment Centre for North Eastern states will augment the capacity in the region for unleashing entrepreneurship and creating a pool of skilled workforce for the apparel sector.

Shri Gangwar said that the project is entirely funded by his Ministry, under North East Region Textile Promotion Scheme (NERTPS). He expressed happiness that the Government of Sikkim has allotted 1.5 acres of land for the project. The estimated expense is Rs. 18.18 crores, for each state in the North East Region. The central assistance would be towards construction of physical infrastructure, purchase of machinery and capacity building for next three years. National Buildings Construction Corporation Ltd. (NBCC) has been assigned the work of construction of centre and installation of machinery. NBCC will complete the construction of the centre and installation of machinery by June, 2015.

The Minister stressed the need to link textile with tourism industry. He added that Geotechnical textile has tremendous scope in the years to come, in aviation sector and in construction of all-weather roads and rails. The Minister also stressed the need to promote mulberry silk in the state; he said that this will provide additional income to women. He said that the Ministry of Textiles will sanction 2.47 crore rupees to the state for Cluster Development Project for weaving and handloom. Shri Gangwar assured the Ministry’s full help and cooperation to the state in skill development and related areas.

Chief Minister Shri Pawan Chamling welcomed the central government’s initiative in setting up of Apparel and Garment Manufacturing Centres in the state and said that the state Government has already identified suitable land for the project in three locations, namely Namchi, Barfok Yangsum and Makha. He expressed hope that local youths will get preference for employment in the project. The Chief Minister also highlighted the achievements of his government in various sectors.

The Centre is being set up as part of a landmark initiative announced by the Honourable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi in Nagaland, on 1st December, 2014. The Prime Minister had announced that an Apparel and Garment Making Centre shall be constructed in all North Eastern states. Work on such a Centre for Nagaland has already begun, after the foundation stone was laid by the Union Textiles Minister, on 24th February, 2015. Shri Gangwar laid the foundation stone for an Apparel and Garment Making Centre in Manipur too, yesterday.

Each Apparel and Garment Making Centre set up under the initiative is estimated to generate direct employment for 1,200 people.

Each state will have one centre with three units, each having 100 machines. For local entrepreneurs with requisite background, required facilities to start a unit will be provided in ‘plug and play’ mode. Once such entrepreneurs get established, they can set up their own units, allowing the facility to be provided to new entrepreneurs.

The initiative comes under the North East Region Textile Promotion Scheme (NERTPS) of the Ministry of Textiles. NERTPS is an umbrella scheme for the development of various segments of textiles, i.e. silk, handlooms, handicrafts and apparels & garments. The scheme has a total outlay of Rs. 1038.10 crore in the 12th Five Year Plan.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.