nTo ensure regular employment to now jobless carpet weavers, the renowned Tibetan-patterned carpet industry of Mainpat in Chhattisgarh's Surguja district is being revived, it was announced on Wednesday.
Guru Rudra Kumar, the Minister of Village Industries and Public Health and Engineering, said in a statement that the village industries department (Gramodhyog) envisages to provide regular employment to migrant workers who have returned to Chhattisgarh.
The General Manager (Development) of the Chhattisgarh Handicraft Development Board, Shankar Lal Dhurve, said the Board has started a carpet making centre in Rekhapar area in Mainpat, with 20 carpet weavers now at work. Further expansion work is in process.
Through such centres, more than 100 carpet weavers will be provided employment, he said.
According to the official, a large number of weavers from Batauli and Sitapur used to work in Bhadohi and Mirzapur in Uttar Pradesh weaving handmade carpets. Covid-19 had forced them to return home, leaving them unemployed.
The Board has taken steps to engage them in the carpet weaving centres, Dhurve added in a statement.
Mainpat, situated in the northern part of Chhattisgarh, is known as ‘Shimla of Surguja’. It lies about 55 km by road from Ambikapur, the divisional headquarters.
The Indian government had rehabilitated Tibetans at Mainpat. They run cottage industry producing mats and woollen clothes.