The government of the Northeast Indian state of Assam has been urged to set up a silk yarn bank at Sualkuchi to ensure adequate supply of various silk yarns to weavers.
Save Guwahati Build Guwahati (SGBG), a voluntary organization based in the city of Guwahati, has presented a memorandum to the state government seeking help for weavers and other textile industry affiliates in Sualkuchi. According to The Assam Tribune, in its letter to the Handloom and Textile Minister Pranati Phukan, SGBG highlighted the need for initiating steps for setting up a yarn bank at Sualkuchi to ensure continuous supply of varied silk yarns to the looms so as to gain support for the silk-based textile industry of the industrial city. The organization has also suggested that Assam government should procure silk yarn from China, as is being done by the government of Karnataka and some other states of the country. In addition, SGBG has urged to government to make arrangements for procuring fabric produced by weavers and textile millers of the heritage industrial town of Sualkuchi.
The letter also seeks introduction of welfare schemes like pension, loan for constructing house and health care for those engaged in the textile industry of the city. The demands have been made on the basis of the findings of a six-member SGBG team, which recently visited Sualkuchi to learn about the issues faced by those associated with the renowned textile industry of the city. Situated about 35 km from Guwahati in Kamrup district of Assam, Sualkuchi is one of the world’s largest weaving villages, where the entire population is engaged in weaving silk fabrics from muga- the traditional Assamese silk variety.
