Under the initiative of the North Eastern Council (NEC), the Union Industries Ministry has agreed to set up two Field Testing Stations (FTS), one in Gauhati in Assam and the other at Agartala in Tripura.
The establishment of the FTS with general engineering testing laboratories, has become necessary due to difficulties faced by the Small Scale Industry (SSI) units of the North Eastern Region by obtain Indian Standard Institutions (ISI) certificate in respect of their products. With a view to helping solve these problems and alleviate the difficulties faced by the SSI units of north eastern region, the NEC took up the matter with the Union Industries Ministry to set up a branch office of the ISI in the region. With the setting up of the above FTS offices, facilities would new be provided to SSI units and entrepreneurs of north eastern states and union territories for testing and certification of their products.