Union Textiles Minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar inaugurated an apparel and garment making centre here on Saturday. The centre has been set up to give an opportunity to local entrepreneurs to convert their ideas and designs into flourishing businesses. It will also provide new avenues to the local entrepreneurs but create additional employment opportunities for the local people in the North East.

On the occasion, the minister expressed hope that the apparel centre would promote entrepreneurship in the garment industry in Mizoram. He has assured all possible support to young entrepreneurs who would be running the facility in making the units commercially viable and self-sustainable and in setting up the requisite ecosystem for apparel manufacturing in the region.

Gangwar said that the entrepreneurs may also dovetail with other schemes of Government of India, in order to avail financial assistance to start the business. The growth of garment industry in Mizoram will provide a fillip to the traditional sectors like handlooms, handicrafts, silk and help them to convert the traditional designs into modern garments.

The minister further said that the union government is committed for the development of the states in the North East, while preserving the unique cultural identity and rich heritage of each of the states. Each centre set up under the initiative is estimated to generate direct employment for about 1,200 people. Each state will have one centre with three units, each having 100 machines.

In Nagaland on December 1 last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced a project to launch apparel and garment making centres in each of the eight states in the North Eastern Region. Under the project, one such apparel and garment making centre consisting three units of 100 industrial stitching and other garmenting machines have been sanctioned in each of the eight North Eastern states with the total cost of Rs 145.44 crore.