Bengal decides to distribute threads to marginal weavers

The West Bengal government is in the process of setting up two hubs in Purba Bardhaman and Cooch Behar districts to sell threads at affordable prices to small and marginal weavers to make their businesses viable, an official said on Tuesday.

The West Bengal government is in the process of setting up two hubs in Purba Bardhaman and Cooch Behar districts to sell threads at affordable prices to small and marginal weavers to make their businesses viable, an official said on Tuesday. The initiative is part of the MSME and Textiles department's strategy to intervene directly in raw material procurement to exclude middlemen from the supply chain as prices of threads are key to the profitability of weavers, he said. ''Threads will be distributed among weavers from the two hubs at prices fixed by the state government to control raw material cost, which will support them to stay competitive," the official said.

The work of the Purbasthali project in Purba Bardhaman is in the advanced stage, he said.

''With the success of these hubs, the government may set up eight more facilities in future at various strategic locations,'' the official said.

The MSME department is looking to make Bengal self-dependent in production of fabrics in the next few years.

The state government itself requires about six crore metres of fabrics to supply uniforms to students of the primary section for free, the official said. Small and marginal weavers, who are mostly involved in contract-weaving, are hopeful of benefiting from the government's initiative. ''Mahajans (aggregators) supply threads to us and provide labour cost to weave. However, if prices of the raw materials become competitive, many of us will try to venture into making our own fabrics and garments,'' a weaver from Nadia's Santipur said.