Odisha Govt To Involve 5 Reputed Designers To Promote Handloom Products, Develop Balijury Haat

Bhubaneswar: The state government will be making a concerted effort to push Odisha handloom as global brands by selling aspirational business models to private partners, scaling up international visibility and improving market linkages.

While chairing a meeting for promoting handloom of the state here on Monday, Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy emphasized on mobilising private sector investment in the development of the handloom sector.

IMPORTANT TAKEAWAYS OF THE MEETING

>> The Textile, Handloom and Handicrafts department will identify ‘good performers’ from among officers and technical experts, who will aspirational business models and sell those to prospective private partners.

>> The benefit of such interventions will go the weavers and artisans.

>> Expo-exhibitions will be organised at various prominent places and star hotels.

>> Balijury Haat of Bargarh district will be developed as the Largest Open Ground Cloth Market in Asia with modern amenities and all types of market linkages.

>> Internship and scholarship programmes in the fields of – innovative design, motif making, banding, mixing, yarn making – will be introduced to attract young talents to the sector

>> In the first phase, the focus will be on Pasapali, Sonepuri, Bomkai and Kotpad designs.

>> Internationally reputed designers like Rta Kapur Chishti, Abraham & Thakore, Rakesh Pratap Singh, Anjali Kalia and Bibhu Mohapatra would be invited to be involved in the promotion of Odisha’s designs.

>> The weavers would be provided good quality yarn in advance to keep their looms running.

>> Bayanika, Utkalika and Sambalpuri Bastralaya would be provided interest-free working capital to purchase products from the weavers.

>> Focus would be laid on e-commerce. The department has already tied-up with Flipkart, Amazon and GoCoop.

Director, Textile, Handloom and Handicrafts, Jyoti Prakash Dash said, “These verities are mostly prepared in Bargarh Sonepur, Kalahandi and Koraput regions. The traditional weavers of these areas possess excellent traditional expertise in these tie and dye designs.”

He informed that 166 new designs have already been developed and the process for the second phase of design and reference collection has started.

Senior officers of the department, Boyanika, Utkalika and Sambalpuri Bastralaya participated in the deliberations.