VARANASI: The Union minister of state for textiles, Panabaka Lakshmi, on Saturday inaugurated the four-day Fifth India Carpet Expo. The expo is being organised by the Carpet Export Promotion Council on Sampurnanand Sanskrit University grounds.
After inaugurating the fair, she told reporters that despite economic slow-down, no major change had been noticed in the export of the Indian carpet. In view of the buying capacity of the global buyers, the Indian carpet industry has increased the production of cheaper carpets and floor coverings.
Regarding the efforts of the Union government for patronising the industry, she said the finance minister had already sanctioned huge budget of Rs 140 crore to develop carpet clusters. She informed one cluster was sanctioned for the carper belt of Mirzapur and Bhadohi while another had been sanctioned for the Jammu and Kashmir.
The minister said the process to begin urban haat for showcasing the handmade products, including carpet, saree and handicrafts, would be completed at Chowkaghat in Varanasi by January 2010. She said the haat was required for the city in view of huge arrival of tourists from the country and abroad. She said search for potential markets for the Indian carpets was going on. "The ministry is looking towards Latin American countries like Argentina," she informed.
About the weavers, she said distribution of artisan identity-cum-health cards was going on across the country. She said in the first 100 days of the Congress-led UPA government, 1.5 lakh such cards had been distributed so far. She said Congress chief Sonia Gandhi had already kept the region on the top of her list of development.
Source : TOI