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Dindigul gets first handloom cluster

PALANI: A handloom cluster, first of its kind in the district, has been set up here to enhance income of handloom weavers and upgrade standard of living.

Inaugurating the centre here on Saturday, Cooptex Managing Director and Special Officer, M.P. Nirmala, said that this cluster, seventh one in the State and the ninth set up by the Cooptex under Integrated Handloom Cluster Development Programme, involved 510 handloom weavers, mostly khora cotton sari makers, and yarn processors in Palani, Ayakudi, Kozhumamkondan, R. Iyyampalayam, Narikkalpatti and Pethanaickenpatti.

A sum of Rs.59.70 lakh had been sanctioned for development of this cluster. A 10-member committee would man each cluster. The government had plans to set up 31 clusters in the State,10 of which would be by the Cooptex, she said.

Main objective of the scheme, she said, was to improve productivity, scale down production costs, covert products into easily marketable commodities and make suitable upgrading or modification in looms to make high quality textiles. It would be implemented for three years to help weavers market their products directly and modify manufacturing process.

The cluster would also have common facilities for warping and sizing, training, quality control, computer designing and a testing laboratory. It would arrange buyer-seller meets, purchase looms and accessories, set up of dyeing units, open showrooms, conduct exhibitions and provide design inputs, she added.

Funds had also been sanctioned for setting up yarn bank, yarn processing centre, common facility centre and design centre and impart training on administration and marketing. A sum of Rs.13.85 lakh had been sanctioned to purchase modern looms, equipment for allied activities and warp machines, she said.

Collector R. Vasuki said that performance of this cluster would decide the extension of the scheme to other areas.

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