CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami has appealed to the people of the State to purchase handloom fabric and wear them once in a week in order to support the traditional textile manufacturing sector.
In a message on the eve of National Handloom Day (Aug.7), he said, “People of all walks of life should purchase silk and handloom clothes from showrooms run by weavers’ cooperative society, Co-optex and Loom World.” He said they should wear such dresses once in a week, either on Monday or Friday, in order to support and help handloom weavers.
The sector provides employment opportunities to 1.90 lakh weavers’ families and 3.20 lakh weavers and others involved in allied industries the State.
Recalling that CN Annadurai (Anna), founder of DMK, had carried handloom products on his shoulders to help weavers eke out a living, he said the late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa had introduced several measures to promote the sector.
Sale of handloom products with 30 per cent discount between September 15 and January 31 every year, free dhoti and sari scheme which benefits 1.64 crore families and distribution of four sets of free uniforms to benefit 54 lakh students of government and government-aided school were notable among them.
The Chief Minister will launch the Handloom Day celebrations today (August 7) at Kalaivanar Arangam here.