Advisor Narula convenes meeting for establishing Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Handicrafts & Carpet sector, food processing in Ladakh

Leh, August 13: Advisor Ladakh, Umang Narula convened a meeting today at the UT Secretariat to discuss the proposal of the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, Government of India, to establish Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Handicrafts and Carpet sector and Food Processing in Ladakh.
Advisor Narula stressed that the Centre of Excellence (CoE) should inhouse common facility center for post-processing/ value addition along with training /skilling center, with all modern machineries and amenities.
He added that the CoE will be helpful for prospective entrepreneurs/ youth to upgrade their skills in the specific area and value addition of their products. Further, he advocated the need for affiliation of the planned CoEs with concerned bodies for certification of the skill courses diploma/degree courses in the specific field and stressed that the CoEs be structured and planned, as per the specific potential areas of the district.
Dr. Pawan Kotwal, Principal Secretary Planning Development and Monitoring Department mentioned that the CoEs would be beneficial for the youth/ women, entrepreneurs and FPOs to upgrade their skills and in value addition of their products. He said that this will further improve their socio-economic status.
Earlier, Padma Angmo, Secretary Technical Education & Skill Development Department appraised that the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, GoI, has proposed to establish a Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Ladakh in the Handicrafts and Carpet sector and Food Processing sector on BOT model (Built, Operate and Transfer). Under the BOT arrangement for the project, the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, GoI would bear the expenditure for 3 years after which the expenditure would have to be borne by the UT. She proposed the setting up of CoE in Handicrafts and Carpet in Leh district and CoE in Food Processing in Kargil district.
Saugat Biswas, Secretary Industries & Commerce and Ravinder Kumar, Secretary Agriculture/ Horticulture endorsed the need for a Food Processing COE in Kargil district considering good production of Apricot, Fish and Meat in the district.
The meeting was attended by Shrikant Balasaheb Suse, Deputy Commissioner/ CEO, LAHDC, Leh; Abdul Hadi, Chief Planning Officer, Kargil and District Horticulture Officer, Kargil.