New Delhi: Union Textile Minister Smriti Irani on Tuesday launched four projects in the country's northeastern region for the development of the silk sector.
Irani, through a video conference here, inaugurated a Muga silk seed production centre in Tura, Meghalaya; silk printing and processing unit in Agartala, Tripura; Eri spun silk mill in Sangaipat, Imphal; and a development project for sericulture in Mamit, Mizoram.
Irani also inaugurated new office buildings of the Weavers' Service Centre (WSC) in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, and Kannur, Kerala.
She interacted with the people's representatives, officials and farmers and urged them to generate awareness among the farmers and weavers about loan schemes available under the MUDRA Yojana and recently-announced income support programme for farmers, PM Kisan, and the pension scheme for workers in unorganised sector, Pradhan Mantri Sram Yogi Mandhan Yojna.
The Muga Silkworm Seed Production Centre (SSPC) in Tura, Meghalaya, is one of the projects taken up directly by the Centre Silk Board (CSB) for implementation under the Integrated Sericulture Development Project (ISDP) of NERTPS to create seed infrastructure units in northeastern states.
The infrastructure facilities available currently with the state are insufficient to meet the demand of required quantity of Muga basic seed.
"The creation of additional Muga SSPC in Tura will strengthen the Muga seed sector to make the state self-sufficient for production and supply of Muga silkworm seed. The seed production capacity of the unit is one lakh commercial DLFs (disease-free layings) per year and around 300 farmers will be covered directly," an official statement said.
Most of the fabrics produced on handlooms and powerlooms in Tripura are sent to Kolkata, Bengaluru, Bhagalpur and other places for value addition by processing and printing. The silk printing and processing unit will lead to higher and sustainable growth in the entire textile value chain from fibre to finished products in the state and improve the local weaver artisans.
Eri Spun Silk Mill in Sangaipat, Imphal East, Manipur, was approved with a total project cost of Rs 21.53 crore was approved in September 2018 and will be implemented directly by the state in co-coordination with CSB.
Around 65 per cent of Eri cocoons produced in Manipur are converted into yarn within the state through conventional spinning device Takli, pedal-operated and motorised eri spinning machines. The rest of around 35 per cent of Eri cocoons is marketed outside the state without value addition, resulting in less income for farmers.
The installed production capacity of the mill is 55 million tonne (MT) of quality Eri spun silk yarn by consuming about 74 MT of Eri cocoons per annum.
The expected turnover at an installed capacity utilisation of 80 per cent during the first year is around Rs 10 crore with a net profit of Rs 3 crore.
"The project is expected to generate direct employment to 107 persons throughout the year and indirect employment to around 1,500 Eri farmers through the backward linkage and around 730 weavers through forward linkage," the statement said.
The project for development of sericulture in the aspirational district of Mamit, Mizoram, was approved with a total cost of Rs 11.56 crore, which includes the Government of India's share of Rs 10.82 crore.
The Weavers Service Centre Kannur was established in 1972 and was functioning from hired premises. Construction work commenced in October 2016 and has been completed in February 2019 at Rs 228.53 lakh.
The Weavers Service Centre Indore was established in 1962 and was running from hired premises. Construction work of the new building commenced in October 2017 and was completed in December 2018 at Rs 209.43 lakh. PTI RSN
