The selection of Sant Kabir State Handloom Award for the year 2023-24 was done under the chairmanship of District Magistrate (DM) S Rajalingam in the presence of the selection committee members, including representatives of Joint Director (Industries), Regional Manager (UPICA), Deputy Director (Bunkar Sewa Kendra) and two nominated weaver representative members. The meeting was held at the Rifle Club here on Thursday in which samples of saree dress materials, carpet etc from Varanasi, Chandauli, Mirzapur and Bhadohi districts were presented. The sample saree of Lakshmi of Varanasi district was given the first prize by the selection committee for is excellent hand weaving using Rangkat design. The sample dari of Rukhsar Begum of Mirzapur was given the second prize for using hunting design while the sample dupatta/stole (Kaduva border dupatta) of Mangala Prasad Maurya of Varanasi was selected for third prize at the regional level. The first regional award winner will be awarded `20,000 cash while the second prize winner will get `15,000 cash and the third prize winner `10,000 cash apart from shields, certificates and ‘angavastram’. Arun Kumar Kuril, Assistant Commissioner (Handloom and Textile Industries) said the selected samples will be sent to the Commissioner and Director (Handloom and Textile Industries), UP, Kanpur for selection for the State Handloom Award. The weavers who receive state level awards will be given a cash amount of `1,00,000 for first place, `50,000 for the second and `25,000 for the third apart from shields, certificates and angavastram. Chief Development Officer (CDO) Himanshu Nagpal, Regional Manager (UPICA) Sanjay Gupta and others were also present.