Tant Sathi project started at the initiative of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has helped weavers immensely, Swapan Debnath, minister of state for Micro Small and Medium Enterprises and Textiles Swapan Debnath said in the Assembly on Friday.
He said the weavers have been given the loom along with their components by the state government. He said 14, 708 weavers have been benefitted. He regretted that these weavers had been neglected by the Left Front government for three decades. "But now they have got a new lease of life and are becoming self reliant."
Meanwhile, the Bengal government has decided to come up with a new variant of silk which will be equivalent to the famous Rajshahi silk of Bangladesh in terms of quality.
A state secretariat official said: "Rajshahi silk is only made in Bangladesh and it is one of the best quality. In West Bengal our brand 'Bishwa Bangla' will make a new variant of silk, which will be equivalent to Rajshahi silk in terms of quality."