Muga growers of Lakhimpur district have expressed serious concern over the involvement of an NGO in distributing Muga silk eggs to beneficiaries originally conducted by state sericulture department.
The complaint has been made by Jitul Saikia, chairman, Wild Silk-North East, a leading Muga conservationist group from Dhakuwakhona in Lakhimpur district.
Usually the Muga silk eggs are produced in Garo Hills of Meghalaya which are collected by the state sericulture department and distributed among the Muga growers in Dhakuwakhona area of Lakhimpur district as they could not be produced in this area due to the warm and humid climate.
However, this time the eggs are not distributed by the state sericulture department among the Muga growers in Dhakuwakhona and instead the department has engaged an NGO Golden Thread of Assam to get the eggs.
Presently the NGO is allegedly making contracts among Muga growers of Dhakuwakhona to get 50 percent of the produced silk threads.
The contract also allegedly makes the beneficiaries to sell the rest of the silk threads to this NGO only after getting the production of cost for them.
This development has created widespread public resentment in the greater Dhakuwakhona area—the only Muga endemic zone in Assam.
The involvement of NGO has also threatened the traditional Muga producing economy of this region which also includes women empowerment.