Kolkata: The state government is setting up an industrial centre for production of handicrafts from water hyacinth at Purbasthali I block in East Burdwan.
The state government has allocated funds of around Rs 48 lakh for the project which will come up at Tulsidanga under Samudragarh Gram Panchayat area.
“Waterbodies at Purbasthali abound in water hyacinth and during festivals we have to undertake cleaning up of the ponds. We have been toying with the idea of developing an industry using water hyacinth which would be an effective source of alternative employment of people,” Swapan Debnath, state Animal Resources Development (ARD) minister, who is also an MLA of Purbasthali said.
It was Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee who in September last year at a programme in Kharagpur had said that various things like mats, bags, food plates etc can be produced from water hyacinth.
Debnath recently visited the proposed site for the industrial centre along with senior officials of Bengal Khadi and Village Industries Board and local rural administration.
According to sources, a local resident Raju Bag has been making various home décor items using water hyacinth by which he grabbed the attention of many. Debnath recently spoke with Bag who is a former student of Visva Bharati University and was impressed with the various articles that can be made from water hyacinth.
“The land has already been identified and now we will take up the work for developing infrastructure. The first phase of work will be training followed by setting up space for storage of raw materials. The next phase will be production and the final and most important marketing of the handicraft products,” Debnath said.
The training of the local women has already started under the initiative of Debnath.