Artisans, small and micro entrepreneurs will get a shot in the arm as the Yogi government will make 21 common facility centres (CFCs) functional this month. The CFCs will provide state of art machines, testing facility and finishing equipment for the artisans and SMEs.

Established under the one district one product (ODOP) scheme of UP government, each of these CFCs cost Rs 15 crore and house imported machines and various other facilities. According to the Principal Secretary MSME, Khadi and Village Industries, Navneet Sehgal, till now the buttons prepared from bones by artisans of Sambhal, UP are being finished in China and brought here again to sell. Similar is the case of brassware industry in Moradabad where the decorative items get vapour coating in foreign countries. In Agra, the shoes and sandals are being sent to Italy and Germany for quality testing. At times the manufacturers suffer huge loss after their finished items are being rejected in quality testing in foreign countries.

The CFC at Agra will have the international quality testing facility while the one at Sambhal will have machines to finish the buttons prepared from bones, said Sehgal. According to him, the vapour coating on brassware items add value to the goods and till date this facility was not available in Moradabad. At the CFC, the government is setting up state of art vapour coating machines which will help the manufacturers. In Saharanpur, the artisans and entrepreneurs engaged in wood carving have gone one step forward and have purchased land for setting up private industrial area. The CFC in Saharanpur has been set up in this area with imported carving machines and paint rooms.

Sehgal informed that these CFCs will be made functional by March 31 and after this the department will find out possibilities of opening more such centres in other districts. The 90 per cent cost of each CFC is being borne by the state government while 10 per cent has been shared by the local entrepreneurs body. Consulting firm Ernst and Young, engaged for the ODOP project, has helped the state government in mobilising entrepreneurs and motivating them for the CFC.