Bawankule Announces Kalamkari Garment Cluster in Koradi

Nagpur: A Kalamkari garment cluster is being developed in the Mahalakshmi Jagdamba Devi Sansthan premises at Koradi to provide more employment and self-employment opportunities for women in rural areas. In a review meeting held at the Niyojan Bhawan on Monday, guardian minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule decided to provide Rs5 crore funding through innovative initiatives.Emphasis is being placed on the district annual plan and other schemes to impart necessary skills for self-employment to women in rural areas. A unique initiative is being launched with the goal of providing various skill training, capacity building, confidence building and promoting indigenous production to local women through these schemes. Dress material produced through Kalamkari prints on various indigenous fabrics like khadi, cotton has huge demand in India as well as abroad. Bawankule expressed confidence that this initiative will be extremely helpful in reaching such handicraft skill-based production project clusters to rural areas of the district, including Koradi.In the first phase of the cluster, ND James, an NGO, has been selected to train women. This training centre has been set up in a spacious hall in the Koradi temple premises. Through hand block printing, various traditional artistic designs will be transferred onto blocks and dress material will be prepared using natural colours by hand. Dresses of various sizes will be produced from this fabric.Facilities like cutting tables, sewing machines, khadi, cotton, fabric, washing unit, block making etc will be available for this. A 10-ton pigment printing machine will be the main attraction. Training for about 200 women will be conducted at Mahalakshmi Jagdamba Devi Sansthan Market. At the same location, incense stick making from nirmalya, textile processing, carpet making from wool and cotton, organic product manufacturing, cattle rearing, jeevamrut production from cow urine, and a separate mall and sales centre for women are also proposed in the cluster.