Now textile town of Tirupur of Tamil Nadu, India’s knitwear capital, will have a North East connection.

Tirupur Exporters Association that runs a Knitwear Fashion Institute in the textile town – will be setting up a training institute in Meghalaya and run it. The NIFT-TEA Knitwear Fashion Institute, set up some seven years ago, has agreed to set this institute, for which infrastructure and funding will come from the central government.

The institute will train first batch of 35 students – male and female in the age group between 18 years and 25 years – from April.

The Tirupur institute has already visited Meghalaya and identified all it needed to do, sourced trainers from its own institute here in Tirupur.

Said TR Vijayakumar, general council member of the Institute and chairman of its admission committee, he was visiting Meghalaya to hold further discussions and crystalize the requirements after consultations with state and central governments.

“It is a big responsibility and we are serious in doing it as best as we can,” he said in a chat with Covaipost.

More important, the government has also charged the Tirupur body with the task of setting up avenues for permanent employment of the trainees in Meghalaya in that state only. To this extent, “we have to identify potential investors there and set up their factories and help them run efficiently,” Vijayakumar said.

“There are some investors already ready,” he said adding that it would take roughly Rs one crore to set up a factory with 100 machines, which can churn out world quality garments that most companies in Tirupur make and export.

Fortyone year old Vijayakumar, who himself is an exporter, said “we have already given the consent letter to the union government. The training session, lasting 45 days each, will start from April. After the training, they are to be absorbed in garment units to be set up in Meghalaya only.”

In fact, the union government wants us to take up similar projects all over the North East he said, adding already there are many workers from the North East states engaged in Tirupur textile town. “They are good, hardworking and receptive to training and contribute a lot to the overall growth the companies,” said Vijayakumar.

The subjects taught would be designing, cutting, sewing, ironing, packing, inspections, embroidery, printing, sequencing and then on knitting, dyeing, spinning and the like. Every aspect of the garment industry from yarn to completed garments, he said. Already, the courses are designed and taught at the institute in Tirupur. Theory would be taught and practical training done on machines, like in factories, so that they are ready for employment.

Master trainers from here would visit Meghalaya, identify trainers and train the trainers. If need be they would be brought to Tirupur for further training and exposure.

Some of the trainees could find employment at Tirupur too, said Vijayakumar, but the focus would be on getting people to invest there in North East, so that these people get jobs in their own neighborhood. And also the region develops economically.

Without divulging any names, he said, “Major companies are already ready to invest in Sikkim.” It would take Rs one crore investment to start a factory with 100 machines that can provide employment to 250 people, he said.