OREANDA-NEWS. May 21, 2015. An Apparel and Garment Making Centre is all set to come up at Agartala; the foundation stone for the same was laid by Shri Santosh Kumar Gangwar, Hon'ble Minister of State for Textiles (I/C), Government of India and the Chief Minister of Tripura, Shri Manik Sarkar, on 20th May, 2015.

A Silk Processing and Printing Unit was also inaugurated on the occasion, by the Union Textiles Minister and the Tripura CM. The project cost is Rs. 3.41 crore.

These units are expected to provide employment to a large number of people in Tripura and would lead the large scale production and processing of garments in the region. The project contributes to the "Make In India" programme in textile sector, with particular emphasis to the North Eastern States.

The Apparel and Garment Making 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. The Minister laid the foundation stone for an Apparel and Garment Making Centre in Manipur on 24th March, 2015, in Sikkim on 25th March, 2015, in Arunachal Pradesh on 16th April, 2015 and in Assam on 19th May, 2015. 

Minister of Industries & Commerce, Tripura, Shri Tapan Chakraborty; the Secretary, Ministry of Textiles, Dr. Sanjay Kumar Panda; the Chief Secretary, Tripura, Shri Y. P. Singh and the Secretary, Industries & Commerce, Tripura, Shri M. Nagaraju were also present on the occasion.

Background
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 project will be fully funded by the Ministry of Textiles, with an estimated expense of Rs. 18.18 crores for each state. 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.