Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, July 23: In order to give an impetus to the Silk and Wool sectors in J&K, the Lieutenant Governor, Girish Chandra Murmu today inaugurated the Modernized and Upgraded Government Woollen Spinning Plant and Silk Filatures at Solina.
The Lt Governor also e-inaugurated Modernized Government Spinning Mill, Nowshera, Srinagar.
All these units have been modernized and upgraded at a total cost of Rs 16.22 cr with around Rs 9.06 cr being funded under languishing projects.
BVR Subrahmanyam, Chief Secretary; Manoj Kumar Dwivedi, Commissioner Secretary to the Government, Industries and Commerce, Pandurang K. Pole, Divisional Commissioner Kashmir; Dr. Shahid Iqbal Choudhary, Deputy Commissioner Srinagar; Sh. Sanjay Handoo, Managing Director, JK Industries and other senior officers were present on the occasion.
The Lt Governor appreciated the efforts of the Industries and Commerce Department to revive the units which had been closed and have been made fit for operation after decades.
He observed that with the operationalization of the units, the economic benefits would reach a large section of the society, especially those associated with cocoon and sheep rearing. A significant amount of raw silk and wool which was being sent outside J&K without any value addition, would now be processed and finished within J&K, he added.
The Lt Governor called for undertaking innovative strategy for creating markets for the manufactured products in these units at national and international level.
He also enquired about the interventions being made for the revival of the historical silk unit and asked the concerned officers to focus on enhancing viabilities of such business units as self-sustaining and employment generating public sector units.
The Lt Governor directed the I&C Department to carry out repair and renovation work of the buildings and surroundings of the Solina complex at the earliest without disturbing the architecture of heritage buildings. Further, as a long term measure, the Solina Complex should be developed as a cultural hub wherein arts, crafts and culture would be showcased, besides also acting as a focal point for craft shopping, cultural programs for local and tourists visiting J&K, he added.
The Lt Governor also took a round of the Woollen Spinning Plant and Silk Filatures and inspected various sections.
Commissioner Secretary to the Government, Industries and Commerce Department, Manoj Kumar Dwivedi informed the Lt Governor that the Silk filatures would have silk yarn production capacity of 40,000 kgs consuming around 1,20,000 kgs of cocoon, thus providing an assured market to around 10,000 cocoon rearers.
It was further informed that the Spinning Plant would be consuming around 2,00,000 kgs of local wool to produce around 1,50,000 kgs of yarn which would be weaved at Government Woollen Weaving Mills, Bemina to produce local tweed which has got good local and national market. In the coming times, this facility will render an effective market support to the local farmer families who will be benefitting by way of getting better remuneration for the raw wool.
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