Srinagar, Aug 5: Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Thursday stated that the government would begin the branding of Kashmir silk to provide it an international market.
He stated this after inaugurating the modernized and upgraded government silk weaving factory at Rajbagh, Srinagar marking an important step towards the revival and holistic development of the silk industry in UT.
“We will soon launch Rajbagh Silk as a new brand for Kashmir silk. Moreover, the Tourism department will work in tandem with the
department of Industries and Commerce to ensure ease of access to the Kashmir silk market for our tourists,” he added.
The government silk weaving factory was established in the year 1937 and had been in operation since then. Over a period of time, most of the machinery had become obsolete and the factory suffered huge damage to the infrastructure in the floods of 2014.
As part of the revival plan, the century-old government silk weaving factory Rajbagh has been upgraded and modernized with a project cost of Rs.23.54 Cr under the World Bank funded Jhelum Tawi Flood Recovery Project (JTFRP). Under the upgradation plan, a new factory with state-of-the-art preparatory and weaving machinery has been installed.
The revival plan of Jammu Kashmir Industries Limited (JKI) was being implemented focusing on making the organization as a profitable and viable entity, besides providing livelihood support to the marginalized sections of the society, especially those associated with the cocoon rearing and production of wool, the Lt Governor said.
The revamped government silk factory would provide a cocoon consumption market to approximately 50000 cocoon growers or farmers of the Kashmir division. Pertinently, in absence of such a big consumption centre for the local cocoon, the farmers were exploited by middlemen and a major quantity of cocoon would get exported to other parts of the country without any value addition.
The government silk weaving factory Rajbagh would now be capable of producing 4,50,000 meters of silk fabric per annum creating a viable economic cycle and employment opportunities both directly and indirectly. Further, the government silk weaving factory Jammu established in the year 2020 was providing direct market to the cocoon rearers of the Jammu division, added the Lt Governor.
In the second phase, the Industries department would restore two heritage buildings of the silk factory. This would have a design studio, quality control lab and areas for tailoring where customers could select the fabric and talk to the master tailors, it was informed.
Later, the Lt Governor also interacted with the artisan clusters of willow wicker (Ganderbal), papier mache (Zadibal), crewel (Noorbagh) and wool (Bandipore). The artisan clusters have been established under the World Bank funded Jhelum Tawi Flood Recovery Project (JTFRP) for the skill enhancement of the artisans, training them in the management of the artisan owned clusters and developing market linkages for their products.
A presentation was also made by the experts of the consultancy engaged by JTFRP for the adaptive reuse of the Rajbagh silk factory and the steps proposed for the retrofitting of the old factory, using the old campus for dyeing, yarn certification and other beautification measures, besides linking the campus with the tourist circuit.
Baseer Ahmad Khan, Advisor to Lieutenant Governor; Dr. Arun Kumar Mehta, Chief Secretary, Ranjan Prakash Thakur, Principal Secretary to Government, Industries & Commerce Department; Pandurang K Pole, Divisional Commissioner Kashmir; Dr. Syed Abid Rasheed Shah, Chief Executive Officer, JKERA/JTFRP and Mohammad Aijaz, Deputy Commissioner, Srinagar were present on the occasion.
Dr Hina Shafi Bhat, VC KVIB and other senior officers of the concerned departments were also present.