Minister Padmini Dian inaugurated ‘National level Handloom Expo 2021’

Bhubaneswar:20/1/21: Minister, Handlooms, Textiles, and Handicrafts Padmini Dian today inaugurated ‘National level Handloom Expo 2021’. Ashok Chandra Panda, Minister, Science and Technology, MLA Ananta Narayan Jena, Subha Sarma, Commissioner-cum-Secretary, Handlooms, Textiles and Handicrafts Department, and Jyoti Prakash Das, Director of Textiles and Handloom were present at the inaugural event.

Odisha State Handloom Weavers Co-op Society Ltd., the only apex society of the State for the marketing of handwoven, being declared as Implementing Agency on behalf of Handlooms, Textiles and Handicrafts Department, is organising the 20th ‘National level Handloom Expo 2021’ at IDCO Exhibition Ground, Unit-III, Bhubaneswar from 20th January to 17th February for providing a common platform for marketing of their handloom products of different states of the country as well as facilitating sustainable livelihood to the weavers.

This Expo is sponsored by Handlooms, Textiles and Handicrafts Department, Government of Odisha. Besides, 134 nos of stalls are opened in this mela, out of which 84 stalls are meant for State participants and rest for outside states, leading PWCS of State of Odisha, leading handloom organisations i.e. Apex and Corporations and major handloom clusters from 17 States of the country like New Delhi, Uttarpradesh, Hariyana, J&K, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Puducherry, Tamilnadu, Telangana, Karnataka, Maharastra, Bihar, Rajasthan, West Bengal are participating in this Expo.

The Expo will remain open from 11.30 AM to 9.30 PM daily. All ranges of handwoven in our country are available at this fair. This Expo will be very enchanting for the weaver participants as they will get a chance to interact with each other on new designs, new skills, and techniques, which will enhance their knowhows for product diversification and for better earning.

All precautionary measures have been taken for adhering to the Covid guideline in this Mela. Last year, this Expo has achieved sales of Rs 9.50 crore. This year business of more than Rs 10 crore is expected.

“Boyanika is committed for all-round socio-economic development of the weavers of the State. This organisation is implementing various developmental programmes for the welfare of weavers of the State. Boyanika has been exploring every new horizon of marketing for upliftment of Handloom industry of the State,” the department stated.