The Union Minister of State for Textile Santosh Kumar Gangwar during the laying of foundation stone for first ever modern Apparel and Garment Manufacturing Centre in Gangtok, Sikkim on 25 March 2015 announced a Rs.430 crore project for production of the Geo-textiles in the North Eastern region.

Geo-textiles, also called filter fabrics, are permeable fabrics which, when used in association with soil, have the ability to separate, filter, reinforce, protect, or drain.

These textiles are made from polypropylene or polyester and come in three basic forms: woven (resembling mail bag sacking), needle punched (resembling felt), or heat bonded (resembling ironed felt).

The Geo-textile will be very helpful in protecting the infrastructure like roads, especially in the regions like the North East which receive excessive rain.

Beside this, the Chief Minister of Sikkim Pawan Chamling stressed on the need for imparting training to the local youth for creating a locally available manpower for the textile industry and also for ensuring usage of locally available material like bamboo in textile production.