AEPC-ATDC Smart Bhawan opens in Faridabad

AEPC-ATDC Smart Bhawan, the 4th permanent campus

building was inaugurated by K S Rao, Minister of Textiles at Faridabad in Haryana. The new campus is situated amidst a cluster of 50 apparel export and 30 fabric processing units employing over 60,000 people. The Faridabad apparel cluster holds a key importance in the apparel industry in Northern India. Rao said the facilities at Faridabad will be for short- and long-term training programs. The setting-up of ATDC’s Knitwear Specialty Training Centre and the Textile Testing Lab in Faridabad’s industrial hub is a significant step and will go a long way in improving the quality of training programs.

In his keynote address, A Sakthivel, Chairman, AEPC, ATDC & IAM, said, the AEPC-ATDC Smart Bhawan, India’s first knitwear specialty training centre and first ATDC textile testing lab in the NCR. And that these will serve the youth by giving them access to newly approved NCVT curricula and state-of-the-art training infrastructure while extending services to the nearby apparel industry cluster.

It may be recalled that under the direction laid by the Integrated Skill Development Scheme (ISDS) it is mandated that ATDC’s train 2,50,000 candidates till 2017 through 250 centers pan-India. The idea is to create a sound ecosystem for labour-intensive apparel sector which is now advancing in high-speed manufacturing, digital merchandising, designing and pattern-engineering.

In a bid to motivate the apparel factories in India for the adoption of training and implementation of AEPC DISHA, Rao distributed the DISHA adoption certificates to the ‘DISHA Champions’. The DISHA program seeks to train factories with a wide range of workers. This is the second phase of the DISHA adoption certificate. First phase certificates were distributed in January 2013 at AEPC. It is noteworthy that more than 150 officials across India are engaged in implementation of the DISHA programme.