Government to provide Rs 10,000 to 6,727 weavers: Nitish

PATNA: The state government has selected 6,727 weavers to provide them Rs10,000 each as working capital through bank transfer, chief minister Nitish Kumar said on Tuesday after laying the foundation stone of Hastkargha Evam Resham Bhawan at Bhagalpur through a remote system on the occasion of National Hastkargha Diwas. He also laid the foundation of a weavers’ training and production centre at Biharsharif in

Nalanda district

and announced Rs1.25 crore for the renovation of Samanya Sulabh Suvidha Kendra at Sigori under

Paliganj

subdivision in Patna district.

The CM said the state government would also give subsidy to handloom

mills

on the lines of 20% subsidy being given to khadi mills.

The Biharsharif centre will come up with an expenditure of Rs13.64 crore to provide training, designing and research facilities to the weavers under one roof. It will have 45 handlooms, including dobby and jacquard looms, textile testing lab and a design centre.

Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi said 15% of the total cloth production in the country is from handlooms. “The Centre has set up a mega handloom cluster comprising seven blocks of Bhagalpur and three blocks of Banka districts with funds to the tune of Rs17.15 crore. Each of these districts will have a dye house, one design studio and project development centre, one design research and market linkage. A cluster development executive over ten blocks and a textile designing and marketing executive over six clusters have been appointed,” Modi said.

He further said similar clusters have been set up at Dehri-on-Sone,

Nawada

and Biharsharif utilizing Rs6.58 crore. “The East Central Railway has also placed an order for 30,000 blankets and 50,000 pillow covers to the handloom sector in the state,” SuMo said.

State health minister Mangal Pandey said his department requires nearly 2 lakh blankets each year. “As of now, the government hospitals and medical colleges are utilizing gowns for patients only in outpatient departments (OPDs), but we will see if similar gowns can also be utilized in the inpatient departments,” he said.

State industries minister Jai Kumar Singh was also present on the occasion.

CM appreciates Ansari girl’s gesture: Mallika Arfeen, a first year student at A N College, tried to draw the attention of CM Nitish Kumar, who allowed her to share her grievances at the National Hastkargha Diwas function on Tuesday. Mallika said her Ansari community was very backward and requested for job reservation by including it in the scheduled castes category. Nitish said though he was in agreement with her demand, it was not in the hands of the state government. “One should keep making such demands. A situation will come when the demand is to be met,” the CM said.