ITANAGAR, Aug 9: The Khadi & Village Industries Commission (KVIC) is all set to launch a first-of-its-kind ‘silk training-cum-production centre’ in Chullyu village, in Lower Subansiri district, in the first week of September.
The KVIC has refurbished and converted a dilapidated school building, provided by the state’s education department, into a silk training and production centre.
Conceived just six months ago, machineries for the centre, such as handlooms, charkhas, silk reeling machines and warping drums, have already arrived and installation of machines is underway, said a PIB release, adding that 25 local artisans of Chullyu have been selected for the first-batch training.
The project was conceived in February this year, during the visit of KVIC Chairman Vinai Kumar Saxena to Chullyu village. The work, however, has progressed at a slow pace due to the Covid-19 lockdowns, the release said.
Saxena said that the centre would give a big boost to weaving activities in the entire Northeast region.
“Training of artisans and supporting the production of eri silk, which is indigenous to the NE states, will create local employment and sustainable development in the region, which is aligned with the prime minister’s vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat,” Saxena said.
He said that the KVIC will also create an exclusive page on its online portal to market the artisans’ products.
The KVIC has also planned design intervention by engaging professional design institutes like the NIFT, Shillong, the NID, Jorhat, and even local designers in Arunachal, “to develop new designs to suit the modern taste of tribal youths.”
The KVIC aims to connect the production centre with the tourists visiting Ziro, “for providing an assured market to the local artisans for their products,” it said.
In the initial period, the KVIC will provide raw materials and bear the expenditure involved in training, wages, and developing prototype designs.
Recently, the KVIC distributed 250 honeybee boxes in Chullyu village, which has a rich flora, for production of high-altitude honey, the release added.
