Jagatsinghpur/Raghunathpur: Jaipur village under Raghunathpur block in Jagatsinghpur district has been declared a weaver craft village or ‘Bayan Gram’, giving a ray of hope to the weaver families for better days ahead.
The village is 150 km from Cuttack-Paradip State Highway. Anyone visiting this village will see that the name falls right in place. Members of ninety or so families residing in the village at any given day can be seen busy on handloom related work.
The prime source of income for these families is nothing but handloom. They run their families from what they get by selling sarees, dhotis, bed sheets, shawls, napkins, towels, handkerchiefs and other products that they weave.
The 442 handloom weavers in this village have expressed their happiness over their village being declared as a weavers’ craft village. However, the power loom products that have flooded the markets these days have a vitiating effect on this tradition.
While the craft village was inaugurated by Tirtol MLA Rajashree Mallick in the presence of Collector Yamini Sarangi; it has been set up by the Handloom Department in association with Paradip Port Trust, ORMAS and Odisha Jeebika Mission.
After the inauguration, Collector Sarangi said the village will go a long way in benefiting the weavers. It will give them the opportunity to display their products to the tourists and visitors. The village will also be instrumental in developing tourism which would lead to overall development of the village. In order to achieve this, cooperation from all is must, Sarangi said adding to Sonepur and Bargarh, coastal district of Jagatsinghpur will also have a name in handloom sector.
The village comprises of a state-of-the-art common facility center, a demonstration center, sale outlet, refreshment room, with availability of traditional Odia food and other infrastructures such as parking space, toilets and hotels in the village itself to provide better facilities to tourists. The weavers’ looms and their surroundings have also been developed owing to tourism. The craft village will be managed and run by Sri Sri Parbati Weaver Cooperative Society.
On this occasion Handloom department director Sushant Kumar Barik said that the district has some famous tourist spots like Maa Sarala temple, Gorekhnath temple and Paradip port. A good number of tourists come to this district all the year round and the weavers’ village only helps increase the tourist flow to this district. The tourism department will take some steps to attract more tourists to this village, he added.
MLA Mallick said the ‘Bayan Gram’ is the need of the hour. At a time when power loom products are giving a stiff competition to traditional handloom, the village will help revive it.
Paradip Port Trust chairman Rinkesh Ray heaping praise on the Collector for her initiative said that they feel proud for being a part of this project.
Notably, weavers with the help of Sri Sri Parbati Weaver Cooperative Society Limited sell their products through Boyanika outlets.
PNN
