National handloom expo begins today

Vijayawada: Additional Director, Commissionerate of Handloom and Textiles K Srikanth Prabhakar has informed that the National Handloom Expo-2018 opens here on Thursday. It will be open at Sathavahana Degree College here till April 4.

Addressing the media here on Wednesday, Prabhakar said that the expo would be organised keeping in mind the festival, Sri Rama Navami.He informed that about 130 lakh handloom workers earn their livelihood by depending on 38.46 lakh looms. Handloom was the second biggest sector after agriculture for the people of India to earn bread and butter, he said.

He explained that about 10 lakh people earn their livelihood directly and indirectly on 2.79 lakh looms across 13 districts of Andhra Pradesh. Out of various cloth manufacturers in the country, handloom contributes 18 per cent and about 15 percent handloom produce were exported to other countries.

Director, Ministry of Textiles K Ravindra said the 15 days National Handloom Expo was planned to encourage and create opportunity for the handloom workers from across the country to sell their products. 

There were 48 handloom clusters in the state and each cluster would have 225 members on an average. Around 63 stalls were provided at the expo for the participants coming from AP, Telangana, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Rajastan, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Orissa and other states.

He said handloom produce like silk, furnishings, carpets, wide range of handloom saris like Uppada, Jamadani saris, Venkatagiri, Madhavaram, Dharmavaram, Pochampalli and Gadwal saris would be available for sale at the expo.

A poster was released on the occasion.Commissionerate of Handloom and Textiles joint director Maheswara Rao, Regional deputy director M Naga lakshmi, assistant directors D Isaah and A Chalapathi were present.