AEPC launches apparel centre

Amar Singh, joint secretary of the central ministry of rural development, flagged off a specialised centre at Domjur, promoted by the Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) and called the Apparel Training and Design Centre (ATDC).

M N Roy, principal secretary of the panchayat and rural development department of West Bengal, B V Somasekhar, of AEPC, Khalil Ahmed, district magistrate of Howrah and Ananda Chatterjee, sabhapati of the Domjur Panchayat Samity were also present.

Somasekhar said, "With the possibility of more space being offered to the ATDC, the centre can also start other training courses".

The panchayat and rural development Department and AEPC planned to open new centres at Jalpaiguri and Murshidabad to provide skilled manpower to the apparel industry, he added.

AEPC was approached by the Domjur Panchayat Samity to take up training of local youth so that they could take up manufacture of quality garments for the domestic and export markets.

In the initial stage, 76 students were trained in two batches on sewing machines.

The success of the pilot training programme led to the opening of a full-fledged ATDC, said AEPC.

Singh said the ministry of rural development would be offering its support to the ATDC.

Roy said the training programmes of the ATDC could lead to development proposals as special projects under the SGSY scheme for other training programmes and that would the industry.

Domjur in Howrah district had a large number of small manufacturers of readymade garments, as well as dyeing units and locals involved in surface ornamentation work such as embroidery, zari work and printing.

The panchayat and rural development department and the directorate of rural development's Howrah cell sanctioned Rs 26 lakh initially to start up the centre.

The Domjur Panchayat Samity provided space free of cost for the ATDC.

Over 20,000 personnel have been trained at the 22 currently functioning ATDCs at cities like Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida, Ludhiana, Jaipur, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Trivandrum, Tirupur and Mumbai, Surat, Indore, Faridabad and Kanpur.

ATDC's course fees were often sponsored by government institutions as they provided training in fields like pattern-making, production supervision and quality control as also packaging, dispatch and marketing and merchandising skills.