Minister of State for Textiles (I/C), Santosh Kumar Gangwar, laid the foundation stone for an Apparel & Garment Making Centre at Pasighat, Arunachal Pradesh today, in the presence of Minister of State for Home Affairs, Kiren Rijiju and Minister of Textile & Handicrafts of Arunachal Pradesh, Tapang Taloh.The Centre is being set up as part of a landmark initiative announced by the Honourable Prime Minister 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 on 24th March, 2015 and in Sikkim on 25th March, 2015. 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. Ninong Ering, MP, Arunachal East Parliamentary Constituency; Shri Kaling Moyong, MLA, 38 - Pasighat, East Assembly Constituency and Dr. S. K. Panda, Secretary, Ministry of Textiles, Government of India were also present on the occasion.