Work on new handloom silk park near Arani town to begin on Monday

After a decade of its proposal, work on ₹44.69 crore new handloom silk park at Periyannainallur village near Arani town in Tiruvannamalai will commence on Monday (July 7).

Officials of the Handlooms Department said that in 2015, the Arni Handloom Silk Park was registered under the Companies Act. Since then, identification of adequate land for the silk park has remained a major challenge to kickstart the initiative. The new park will help at least 14,000 handloom weavers in the Arani region.

“The new silk park will have complete infrastructure facilities for weavers to industrialise their traditional art of weaving. After Kancheepuram, the new silk park in Arani will be the second such facility for handlooms weavers in the State,” K. Senthil Kumar, Assistant Director (AD), Department of Handlooms (Tiruvannamalai), told The Hindu.

Minister for Handlooms and Textiles R. Gandhi and Minister for Public Works and Highways E.V. Velu, will lay the foundation stone for the multi-crore silk park in the presence of Collector K. Tharpagaraj on Monday.

Spread over 11.09 acres, the Arni Handloom Silk Park will be a one-stop facility for traditional weavers to manufacture newer design sarees. The new facility will have separate units for each process of saree manufacturing such as warp sizing and pirn winding.

In the first phase, around 780 handlooms units will be operated in 13 handloom sheds in the new facility. Each handloom unit will be around 200 sq.ft. About 1,500 kilos of raw silk will be dyed per day for the 14,000 weavers at the new park. “The new park will help us to promote Arani silk sarees globally. Also, the facility will provide a platform for weavers to share ideas and work on new designs,” said V. Sampath, a weaver.

Each loom at the new park will have electronic jacquard boxes. The new park will have a design studio where experts would share ideas on new designs to weavers. It will also have a training centre that would impart training in designing, weaving, twisting and dyeing to weavers.

For weavers, the new facility will help them to get higher wages. Also, weavers will have a fixed work schedule of eight hours a day. They can also run handlooms in their houses to supplement their income. Weavers can also display a range of silk sarees made by them at display and selling arena in the new park.