Post News Service, Bhubaneswar, Feb 4: Live demonstrations of weaving machines that various artistes brought with them marked the first day of the National Handloom Expo 2015 that was inaugurated by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in the city Wednesday.
After inaugurating the event, the Chief Minister visited several stalls and interacted with many of the weavers.
Weavers and others from 16 states took part in the expo, which will go on till March 1 and showcases a wide range of handloom materials. People from all walks of life thronged the 100 stalls at the expo, which has been set up on about 50,000 sq ft at the IDCO Exhibition Ground, Unit III.
Food joints have also been set up and cultural programmes arranged to attract visitors to the expo, which acts as a platform for weavers to display their wares.
“The main aim of the expo is to give weavers from the state and even from other parts of the country a platform to display their handloom work. This will help improve the economic and social conditions of the weavers,” said Devendra Prasad Das, the director of textiles.
“This time we have decided to organise the expo in a broader way. We have set up the expo in a larger area and a greater number of stalls have been put up. We expect more than five lakh people to visit the expo this time,” said Bishnu Prasad Sarangi, managing director of Boyanika.
“We have come here to sell our handloom material. I come to the expo almost every year as it offers a good business opportunity. We sell shawls, chunnis, tribal towels and other material. It takes five days of arduous work to make a single shawl but when people appreciate our work, we get a great sense of satisfaction. We have also brought with us weaving machines to demonstrate how we work,” said Vidyadarsh Mahant, a weaver from Kotpad was seen demonstrating a weaving machine.
“I love to display my handloom work during these kinds of expos. Many people prefer handloom work to ordinary readymade clothes. Our handloom work is far better than the machine-woven material. The texture and work on both sides of the fabric can’t be matched by machine-made clothes,” said Udaynath Sira, another weaver.