State earns ₹ 1.5 cr from expos
Source: Chronicle News Service
Imphal, June 15 2022:
Manipur Handloom and Handicraft Development Corporation Limited (MHHDCL) has been successful in selling handloom and handicraft products of the state worth over Rs 1.5 crore during state and national level expositions held in different states in the last three months Meanwhile, the corporation would be organising a mega sale of handloom apparels it procured from the weavers of the state during the peak of Covid-19 pandemic, next month.
Informing this to The People's Chronicle, MHHDCL managing director E Jiten revealed that the corporation acquired handloom and handicraft products worth around Rs 1.5 crore during the pandemic as a way of helping the weavers, artisans and their families.
Those handloom products are being used as raw material in making apparels for men, women and children at Manipur Apparel Garment Centre, Lamboi Khongnangkhong.
So far, over 1500 products of 48 different designs have been completed.
The corporation would be organising a mega sale in July to sell these apparels, he said.
The corporation also organised seven national handloom and three state expos from April onwards in New Delhi, Kolkata, Pune, Agartala, Silchar and Imphal, with a sale target of Rs 2 crore.
Though they could not achieve the target, they were able to sell products worth over Rs 1.5 crore in those expos.
During those expos, the corporation gave the opportunity to around 750 weavers and artisans to exhibit/sell their products in metropolitan cities while bearing their travel cost.
Union MoS for textiles Dar-shana Vikram Jardosh would be sending appreciation card to 490 weavers of the state, who participated in those expos, he added.
The expos were also a platform to showcase the culture and tradition of the state to the people of other states.
It is part of the corporation's endeavour to promote culture and tradition of the state to the world, the managing director maintained, and informed that it had also organised similar expos in Agartala on multiple occasions especially for the Manipuris settling in the state.
Manipuris in Agartala are mostly of low-income groups and they are in no condition of learning to make these products by themselves, which is why the corporation is organising expos in the state on multiple occasions so that they could buy the products they want at affordable rate, Jiten said.
An outlet for Manipuri handloom and handicraft products is functioning in Agartala.
Besides, the corporation is in the process of providing training on weaving traditional dresses of Manipur to the Manipuris of Agartala, he further informed.
Apart from the weavers and artisans of the state, the corporation is also allowing weavers and artisans from Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Delhi, and Bihar to participate in the expos organised by by the corporation.
Their request to participate in these expos is the testimony of the growing popularity of Manipuri products and big footfalls in those expos, he opined.