Big boost to N-E region textile sector
Mr. Santosh Kumar Gangwar, Minister of State for Textiles (I/C), and Mr. O. Ibobi Singh, Chief Minister of Manipur, jointly laid the foundation-stone for an apparel & garment making centre at Imphal recently. The centre will come up at Lamboikongnangkhong, Imphal West.
The centre is being set up as part of a landmark initiative announced by the Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi, in Nagaland, on December 1, 2014. He had announced that an apparel and garment making centre would be constructed in all the north-eastern States. Work on such a centre for Nagaland has already begun after foundation for which was laid by the Union Textiles Minister on February 24, 2015. At the same time, foundation for an apparel & garment making unit in Namchi district in Sikkim was laid recently.
The Textiles Minister said Mr. Modi has a special concern for the north-eastern States and hence the Textiles Ministry is implementing various schemes to boost the textiles sector in the region.
Mr. Gangwar expressed his Ministry’s commitment in pursuing the development of all segments of the textiles industry in the region with a special thrust on the earnings of primary producers and workers. He assured that utmost co-operation would be extended to all stakeholders for strengthening the textiles sector in the country.
Dr. S.K. Panda, Secretary (Textiles), said that the Ministry has tried to give maximum possible attention to the States of the north-east region. The textiles sector has huge potential for generating income and employment. The proposed apparel and garment making centres would contribute a lot for the sectoral growth. Each centre is estimated to generate direct employment for 1,200 people.
Each State will have one centre with three units, having 100 machines. For local entrepreneurs with requisite background, the 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 project will be fully funded by the Ministry of Textiles. The estimated expense is Rs. 18.18 crores, for each State. 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 the centre and machinery installation.
The State Government’s contribution is in the form of land admeasuring 1.5 acre. The Government of Manipur has accordingly identified land at Lamboikongnangkhong.
The whole initiative comes under the North East Region Textile Promotion Scheme (NERTPS) of the Ministry of Textiles for the development of various textile segments like silk, handlooms, handicrafts and apparels & garments. The scheme has a total outlay of Rs. 1038.10 crores in the 12th Five-Year Plan.