Vijayawada: 'National Handloom Day' celebrated at APCO

Vijayawada: MLC and coordinator of CM programmes Talasila Raghuram while participating in the 'National Handloom Day' celebrations at the APCO central office here on Sunday said that every eligible handloom worker would be covered under Netanna Nestam. He said that the government was committed to the development of handloom workers since after agriculture, they play an important role in providing employment to sizable people. "Nineteen percent of cloth production in the country is from the handloom sector," he added.

Central MLA Malladi Vishnu recalled that the handloom sector played an important role during the freedom struggle.

The handloom sector is recognised as heritage of the country and National Handloom Day is being celebrated to improve the standard of living of the handloom workers. West MLA Velampalli Srinivas Rao said the handloom sector is providing employment to 1.28 lakh workers in the state and 50,000 more are getting employment in related activities.

The APCO had been playing a prominent role in marketing the handloom products. The Netanna Nestam is a boon to the families of the handloom workers under which they are getting Rs 24,000 every year.

APCO chairman Chillapalli Venkata Nagamohan Rao recalled that the APCO had signed the MoUs with the e-commerce giants like Amazon, Flipcart, Myntra and others to come closer to the consumers. APCO had started mega showrooms in Vijayawada, Tirupati, Ongole, Guntur and Kadapa and showrooms were started at the airports at Vijayawada and Tirupati. A mega showroom was started at Mehdipatnam in Hyderabad. With the cooperation of National Institute of Fashion Technology, latest designs were introduced to attract the youth towards using handloom material. He said that a target has been set to achieve the turnover of Rs 100 crore in the present financial year.

Regional manager of National Handicrafts Development Corporation Sakodia appealed to people to encourage handloom sector by using the handloom dress at least once in a week. Joint director of the Handlooms Mysuru Nageswara Rao, marketing officer Lella Ramesh Babu, regional marketing officer BV Ramana also participated. Handloom designer of Dharmavaram Nagaraju was felicitated to mark the national handloom day.