PNS | Vijayawada
MM Nayak, MD Commissioner of Handloom and Textile Department, said that to celebrate National Handloom Day, special programmes will be organised for a week to promote the use of handloom.
MD Naid said that under the joint auspices of the handloom and textile department and APCO, the national handloom week will be inaugurated on August 7. He further said that Maris Stella College Indoor Stadium near NTR Circle of the city will be the venue for these programmes and Chief Secretary to the government Dr KS Jawahar Reddy will start the programmes on Monday morning (August 7).
The MD said that the handloom exhibition is being organised from August 7 to 12th, and more than 50 handloom production associations, which are renowned not only at the state level, but also at the national level, are setting up stalls. He explained that on the evening of the first day, a handloom fashion show will be held by APCO. He said that cultural programs will be held every day to reflect the atmosphere of a festival. He stated that they are campaigning for the need to wear handloom clothes at least once a week and preserve the ancient traditional art of handloom, so that continuous employment is possible for handloom workers.
Nayak stated that according to the 4th National Handloom Population Report in the state, about 1,22,644 handloom workers are directly employed and 49,785 are employed in handloom related activities. He further stated that APCO is playing a leading role in making the products made by handloom workers available to the people and APCO will implement the action plan with the aim of doing 50 crore handloom business this year. He pointed out that keeping in view the economic conditions of the handloom workers, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy is giving Rs 24000 rupees per year to every handloom family having a hand loom through Netanna Nestham scheme.
The commissioner revealed that APCO showrooms have been made available at Vijayawada (Gannavaram), Tirupati (Renigunta) Airports and Hyderabad (Mehdipatnam) to make APCO quality handloom garments available to different communities. New showrooms have been opened in Mrignayani [Bhopal], Lepakshi (Kurnool), Vizag Airport and Mangalagiri with new flair to compete with private garment trading companies.
He further explained that the main purpose of the National Handloom Day is to create awareness about the handloom sector as part of India’s heritage and to give a high status to the handloom products and thereby improve the living standards of the handloom workers.
