Date:20/03/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/03/20/stories/2008032057840200.htm

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

A one-stop shop for the latest in handloom products

Staff Reporter

Live demonstration of weaving, dyeing techniques at exhibition

— Photo: R. Ragu

Colourful: Local Administration Minister M.K. Stalin looks at a handloom at the handloom exhibition in Chennai on Wednesday. Minister for Information Parithi Ilamvazhuthi, Minister for Handlooms N.K.K.P.Raja and Co-optex Managing Director M.P. Nirmala are in the picture.

CHENNAI: A new silk sari with 108 kolams and a mega sized Bhavani carpet (jamakaalam) measuring 35 feet x 15 feet are some of the highlights at the National Handloom Expo-2008, inaugurated on Wednesday at the Co-Optex complex on Pantheon Road, Egmore.

The exhibition, organised by the Development Commissioner for Handlooms under the Union Ministry of Textiles, has stalls from various State Cooperative Societies, including those in Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkand, Delhi, Haryana, Gujarat and West Bengal. Discounts ranging from 20 to 60 per cent are being offered by the different State cooperative societies.

You can find saris, chudidhars, stoles, duppatas, scarves, dress materials, bed spreads, shirts, lungies, towels, bed sheets, kitchen linen, furnishing and designer fabrics made from different materials such as silk, mixed yarn and cotton, at the exhibition, open to the public from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. on all working days and from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on all holidays till April 8.

Also showcased are different kinds of saris, including Bengal Cotton, Banaras saris, Jamdhani, cut work saris, Banaras Chiffon saris, Kashmir printed silk saris, Pashima shawls, Pathoi carpets and vegetable ink dyed bedsheets. A live demonstration of weaving and dyeing techniques has been organised at the expo, inaugurated by Local Administration Minister M.K. Stalin. The Minister also launched a showroom for the products of weavers being trained under the Economic Upliftment Project under the Swarnajayanthi Gram Swarozgar Yojana. The ‘Izhai’ showroom has 23 different items made through design intervention under the scheme.

Speaking at the function, Mr. Stalin, who also launched 300 new sari designs, said handloom sales this year were at Rs.120 crore, just short of the target of Rs.125.crore. The purchases by various government departments were Rs.296.95 crore, he added.

Minister for Information Parithi Ilamvazhuthi, Minister for Handlooms N.K.K.P. Raaja, Co-optex Managing Director M.P. Nirmala, Handlooms Secretary Vishwanath Shegaonkar and Mayor M. Subramanian were present.

P.P. Paul, Director, Weavers Service Centre, office of the Director of Handlooms, said the Central Government, under the XI Five Year Plan, would be conducting 1,710 marketing events to showcase and sell the handloom products. They included 50 international fairs, 50 national-level, 125 State-level and 500 district-level events. Sixteen urban haats would be established in various cities, he added.