Marriage sarees to be introduced as alternative to Banarasi

Marriage sarees is soon going to be introduced by Tantuja and it will be an alternative for the much popular Banarasi saree.

Swapan Debnath, Micro, Small and Medium enterprises and Textile minister, said in the Assembly that steps have been taken to weave marriage sarees at Dhatrigram village in Burdwan and Fulia in Nadia. Samples were brought from Banaras using which the weavers are designing the marriage sarees.

Interestingly, these sarees would be lighter and softer compared to that of the Banarasi sarees which are known for the fine embroidery work with gold and silver thread.

It may be mentioned that the Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had directed Debnath to take necessary steps so that the sarees could be introduced in the market as early as possible.

Soon it will be available in the outlets of Tantuja, the organisation under West Bengal State Handloom Weavers Cooperative Society that made a record operational profit in 2015-16 at Rs 3.5 crore against a turnover of Rs 123.19 crore.

The profit margin was Rs 2.05 crore in 2014-15 against the turnover of Rs 106.67 crore. At the same time Manjusha, the State Handicraft Development Corporation, had also made an operational profit of Rs 3.87 crore in 2015-16 fiscal, which happened for the first time since its inception.

In reply to a question regarding the Tanti Sathi project in the Assembly, he said that the project has not stopped. The matter is that the man power has been rationalised as it was also done in the Transport department and it had helped in augmenting the income of the society.