Facility centre for handloom weavers to be established

Tiruchirapalli, Feb 23 (UNI) A common facility centre for handloom weavers, proposed as part of the Handloom Cluster project in Tiruchirapalli district, would be established at an investment of about Rs 60 lakh at Manamedu near Musiri within one year, Cluster Development Executive, Textiles Committee Ramesh Babu said.

Speaking at a function here yesterday, he said the proposed centre would house a computerised design centre, raw material bank, dyeing unit and other facilities for weavers.

A consortium of handloom weavers had already been formed at Manamedu as part of the project and the committee had acted as a facilitator in getting Rs 12 lakh worth orders over the past one year. A yarn depot had also been set up there.

The committee had already trained about 120 weavers in new products, which had resulted in a substantial wage increase for them, he said, and added that it had decided to extend training in pure silk weaving and stitching through power machines.

Later he told newspersons that the committee had also proposed to involve women in marketing handloom products.

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