The UP government recently received a demand for nearly two lakh wrkers — tailors and support staff from Noida Apparel Export Cluster (NAEC).

The demand was made for around 3,000 readymade garment and export units operational at Apparel Park in Noida. After checking the database, the government has been able to locate around 75,000 tailors and support staff and has decided to facilitate training to meet the rest of the demand, sources said.

In the letter, the NAEC chief told the government that around 3,000 readymade garment units employ nearly 10 lakh workers and export Rs 18,000-Rs 20,000 crore readymade garments but added that production stopped completely amid the pandemic and nationwide lockdown. The cluster was now preparing to restart the units, but these are unable to start operations due to lack of manpower.