BHUBANESWAR: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday announced a special package for the Covid-19 pandemic-hit weavers of the State. The package includes concretisation of loom pits, provision of house-cum-work sheds and lighting facilities in work sheds and interest-free loan of Rs 50,000 for them.
Announcing the package, the Chief Minister said over 3,300 weavers families will be provided house-cum-work sheds on priority basis. Besides, lighting facility and electrical fans will be provided in the housing-cum-work sheds to minimise the physical strain on eye and enable the weavers to work for longer duration.
The housing-cum-work shed scheme is being implemented in line of the Indira Awas Yojana and Biju Pucca Ghar Yojana (BPGY) under the State plan - promotion of handloom industry. So far, 11,695 units have been constructed under the scheme. About 800 housing-cum-work sheds are being constructed per year. The left out beneficiaries of around 3,300 weavers will be covered under the special package.
As per the special package, 15,000 loom pits will be concretised in a phased manner in three years with an estimated cost of Rs 10.5 crore. The unit cost of loom pit is estimated to be Rs 7,000. According to the Centre’s Handloom Census Report-2019, out of 31,342 of loom pits in the State, 15,071 have been concretised under the State plan scheme.
The package includes interest-free loan of Rs 50,000 for the weavers from 2021-22. It has been targeted to provide loan to 20,000 weavers on priority during the current year. The total annual cost towards this component will be about Rs 12 crore and for 3 years, it would be Rs 36 crore.
Besides, all eligible weaving families will be covered under rural housing scheme. Beneficiaries will be selected as per the prevailing guidelines of the Panchayati Raj department. Similarly, community infrastructure such as common facility centres (CFCs), godowns and sales outlets will be taken up in collaboration with Panchayati Raj department with involvement of gram panchayats and panchayat samitis.
The Chief Minister said handloom sector has been severely affected during the last one and a half years due to the pandemic. After agriculture, handloom gives employment to a large number of people in rural areas. Besides, weavers play an important role in spreading the culture of Odisha throughout the world by their work, he added.
Benefits