Around five lakh gamosas have been set as a target by the Handloom & Textiles Directorate of Assam in order to cater to the demands of the people for Rongali Bihu next year.
Bishnu Kamal Borah, the director of Handloom & Textiles has divide d the massive workload among its assistant directors and superintendents and asked them to further divide the work among the weavers’ extension service units, 20 handloom production centres and the primary weavers’ cooperative societies operating under them.
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Apart from this, they have also sought the cooperation of the Assam Apex Weavers and Artisans Cooperative Federation Ltd (Artfed) and the Assam Government Marketing Corporation (AGMC).
For the last few years, the directorate has been doing research to come up with effective steps for large-scale efficient production of gamosas.
Gamosa melas have been organized in different parts of the state in the past so people can buy the locally produced handloom gamosas at affordable rates. This year, 30 exhibition-cum-sale fairs are being organized at each district and subdivisional level by the directorate to give people easy exposure to the local handloom products.
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Effective training techniques are being given by the directorate to the local weavers through its 102 Handloom Training Centres and four Handloom Training Institutes located at various places of the State.
Apart from this, the directorate has been running a public procurement centre at Sualkuchi to improve the sales of local products. The directorate has also been providing funds regularly to the Sualkuchi Institute of Fashion Technology (SIFT) , a leading fashion institute which has been providing training to local artisans on fashion, weaving and dyeing, reports The Assam Tribune.
Inspections are also carried out by the directorate to prevent shops from selling powerloom –made gamosas and mekhela chadors in order to protect the authenticity of these local products. Gamosa and mekhela chadar are scheduled items under the provisions of the Handloom (Reservation of Articles for Production) Act, 1985.