Berhampur: The weaver community
in Orissa's Ganjam district, famous for weaving silk sarees
well-known as Berhampuri Pata, has been facing a bleak future.
Shortage of raw materials, low wage coupled with
non-availability of subsidy in power tariff, have created
uncertainty for over 20,000 weaver families in the district.
Most of the weavers live in Hinjili, represented by
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in the assembly, officials said.
Several hundred weavers of Hinjili, whose occupation
is weaving to eke out a living, gathered at Samalai, about 30
km from here to discuss problems and probable plans to
solve them.
"The state government has been requested to provide
electricity to run the looms at a subsidised rate and to
establish more raw material yarn banks in the district,"
president of Ganjam District Weavers Association Parsuram
Sahu said.
Only two raw material banks are functioning now at
Berhampur and Aska in the district by the handloom and textile
department. Every bank is functioning with a corpus fund of Rs
10 lakh, provided by the government and supply the yarn to the
weavers in limited quantity.
"The department procures raw silk yarns from various
places through National Handloom Development Corporation
(NHDC)," Assistant Director of Textiles Upendra Debata said.
PTI
First Published: Wednesday, January 20, 2010, 17:39