State Cottage Industry Minister Harish Chandra Durgapal inaugurated the 20-day national handloom expo 2013-14 organised jointly by Development Commissioner (Handlooms), Uttarakhand Industry Directorate and Uttarakhand Handloom and Handicrafts Development Council (UHHDC) at the Parade Ground on Sunday.
Addressing the gathering on the occasion, the Minister said that State will be known for woolen, cotton and Angora products. Haat bazaars will be opened at Dehradun, Srinagar and Almora to provide a market for the weavers of Uttarakhand’s mountainous areas.
Various training and awareness programmes will be held during their 20 day expo to encourage the weavers, he said. Durgapal said that the Government is trying to encourage woolen, cotton and Angora products to stall migration of people from the mountainous regions of the State.
The Government is also trying to raise awareness on this with district level handloom exhibitions also being organised by the Government. The State Government is making efforts to provide design development, dyeing and other assistance to weavers at the same place in handloom clusters established in the State.
Additional director, Industry, Sudhir Chandra Nautiyal said that the Industry Directorate organises the national handloom expo every year in Dehradun to encourage the weavers and at the same time provide high quality handloom products from Uttarakhand and other States to people. Weavers and cooperative committees from the host State, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Bihar, Rajasthan, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Odisha, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab are participating in the national handloom expo in Dehradun.
Nautiyal informed that some of the noteworthy items being sold at the expo include silk saris from Benaras and other saris and furnishings from UP, block print bed sheets from Jaipur, saris from West Bengal, Kanchipuram saris from Tamil Nadu, double ikkat and other items from Andhra Pradesh, curtains and furnishings from Haryana, various types of saris and dress
materials from various States.