Bhubaneswar to have a handloom museum

Bhubaneswar, Jan 2 (UNI) The capital of Orissa will have a full scale handloom museum, announced state Textile and Handloom Minister Golak Bihari Naik.

The museum would come up as part of the Rs 45 crore package announced by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in September last year.

Professor Jyotindranath Jain, a former director of the National Craft Museum, New Delhi, will prepare the design.

The government has already earmarked Rs.50 lakh for the museum.

An estimated Rs 2 crore to be spent for the museum.

Constuction work was taken up by state owned Industrial Development Corporation as per planning and design of Prof Jain, the Minister said today.

He said in the current financial year some 600 houses would be made and alloted to the weavers. The beneficiaries had already been selected. The government has planned to provide 1000 houses every year to the weavers.

Mr Naik said out of the total 3.5 lakh weavers in the state, the government would issue identity cards to one lakh weavers by the end of March. The rest would be given in phases, he said.

He said Boynika in association with the IIT,Khargpur was trying to protect the traditional handloom designs by registration of Weavers' copyrights by brand promotion, implementation of geographical indications and copy right and trade mark registration.

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