Minister for Industries and Commerce, Chander Parkash Ganga, today inaugurated a day-long workshop on formation of clusters under the Scheme of Fund for Regeneration of Traditional Industries (SFURTI) held at J&K Khadi and Village Industries Board (KVIB) Jammu.The workshop was organized to sensitize the artisans about the formation of clusters under the SFURTI scheme.Speaking on the occasion, the Minister said that such clusters will provide sustained employment for traditional industry artisans and rural entrepreneurs by improving their capacity building and manufacturing skills through training and exposure visits.He said it will also facilitate increased production of traditional merchandise and help in the economic betterment of the involved artisans, adding that these clusters will also include Common Facility Centres (CFCs) and Raw Materials Banks (RMBs) for artisans.
Ganga also said that an amount of Rs. 4.00 crore has been sanctioned for each of the five clusters established at different regions. Speaking in reference to the SFURTI scheme, the CEO KVIB said the objectives of the cluster is to organize the traditional industries and artisans into a cluster so as to make them competitive, provide support for their long-term sustainability and enhance marketability of such the cluster by providing support for new products, design intervention, improved packaging and also improvements in marketing infrastructures.CEO KVIB, Directors KVIB, Director Industries (Jammu), Assistant Director KVIC, Director RSETI and other concerned senior officers were also present on the occasion.Later, the I&C Minister visited Samba, where he laid foundation of office of Association of Industries (Regd.). He was accompanied by Chairman Vinod Rishi, President Vijay Agarwal and Secretary Ritesh Mahajan among other association members.