Mega carpet cluster to come up at Kaliagunge

Kolkata: West Bengal directorate of textiles is planning to set up a mega carpet cluster at Kaliagunge in North Dinajpur.

According to an official of the district industries centre, a Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the mega carpet cluster is being prepared. Work will start after the government clears the DPR. The decision was taken as it was found that the weavers from a remote village in the district have been stitching Banarasi-style carpets for nearly three decades.

Once the proposed mega cluster comes up, it would be immensely beneficial for the local artisans as they would get a better price for their products and also attract buyers from outside. The artisans will prepare hand-made carpets along with some other products at the cluster.

According to the official, it would be promoted in a big way so that products produced by these artisans can be sold in outside markets. Arrangements would be made to send these carpets to various handicraft fairs across the country, fetching modest income for the weavers.

According to sources, besides weaving woolen carpets, the facility will have arrangements for training of workers, designing of carpets and marketing of the products. About 300 women weave carpets in that village at present, under the Malgaon Handloom Cluster Development Society, which was formed in 2009.

Women of self-help groups have been trained for weaving various types of carpets at Malgaon Handloom Cluster Development Society. It has been learnt that weavers make around 40 carpets of various sizes at the Malgaon handloom every month. There are plans that the carpets produced by the weavers at the cluster will be dispatched to various fairs.

According to the district industry centre, a team of five European experts recently visited Malgaon and they were highly impressed with the quality of carpets weaved there. They also said that the carpets could easily fetch foreign currency if they are exported to other countries.