Bhubaneshwar, July 27: Artisans Micro Finance Pvt. Ltd. (AMFPL) has procured handloom and handicraft products worth ` 25 lakh from the the State during the last three months and has placed an order for items worth another Rs 75 lakh.
The State Government signed an MoU with AMFPL in August last year for setting up community-owned company (COC) in public private partnership (PPP) mode with the main objective of carrying on designing, manufacturing, trading (including export) and providing market for handloom and handicraft products. To facilitate the process, the Government established a State Agency for Development of Handloom Clusters (SADHAC), a registered society, for executing the promotional programmes for artisans. AMFPL has set up a COC office in Cuttack.
The Government has planned to extend financial assistance of Rs 4.5 crore to SADHAC over three years. Meanwhile, it has already released Rs 2 crore.
Handloom and Handicrafts clusters have been identified in Gopalpur, Ganjam, Kotpad, Nuapatana, Bargarh, Balangir, Berhampur, Sambalpur, Raghurajpur, Kendrapara, Jhilminda, Baripada, Makhidia and Duburi for procurement of products from rural artisans. Chief Secretary BK Patnaik reviewed the programme at a high-level meeting here on Monday. The meeting was informed that Kotpad fabric has a wider demand in the market and plans are afoot to procure handloom products worth Rs 1.5 crore next year. The Chief Secretary directed to create more infrastructure facilities for the artisans of Kotpad villages, intensify capacity building activities among the artisans and take concrete steps to augment production. He also directed the AMFPL to ensure that total cost of the products procured is paid to the artisans within seven days of procurement. Development Commissioner R.N.Senapati, Finance Secretary JK Mohapatra, Secretary, Handloom and Textiles, Arati Ahuja, Industries Secretary T Ramchandru, IDCO CMD Priyabrat Patnaik, representatives of the National Institute of Fashion Technology and AMFPL were present.
–Agencies