Assam silk weavers: Funds not reaching us

Mar 31, 2013 - MANOJ ANAND |

Age Correspondent

Locals in this silk village in Assam claimed that local weavers, who use looms for weaving, are losing employment because of machine-made products while silkworm rearing has become extinct due to the lack of a market for the expensive silk. The weavers accused the state government and local MLA and minister Himanta Biswa Sarama of not helping the weavers as their designs too were stolen.

The weavers’ association was also angry as the `100 crore announced by Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi in his budget last year to help silk artisans and weavers failed to reach them. The silk weavers have been demanding a yarn bank to remove middle-men from the indigenous industry.
Meanwhile, AGP president and former chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, BJP MP Bijoya Chakrobarty and other political parties condemned the police firing on weavers while accusing the government of ignoring the traditional industry of the state despite repeated pleas.inue their struggle.

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