JOIN USThese blankets will offer warmth to military personnel serving in cold climatic conditions. The Karnataka State Handloom Weavers’ Cooperative Associations’ Federation has undertaken an ambitious project of building a Barrack Blanket Production Centre at Goralakatte village of Challakere taluk.
The Federation has entered into an agreement with the Association of Corporation and Apex Societies of Handloom (ACASH), New Delhi, to supply the blankets.
“We have assured the agency of supplying at least one lakh blankets every year. The agency would in turn supply blankets to various central government departments such as the Military, Railways, government-run hospitals and police,” Federation District Secretary M Patalingappa said.
He said the Defence Ministry needs three lakh blankets every year, which it gets from various North Indian states.
The objective of the Federation is not only to revive the declining handloom industry of the district, but also to ensure greater incomes for weavers who were gradually giving up their ancestral occupation for better livelihood, he explained.
“The absence of better marketing facilities and increasing cost of production has compelled weavers to quit their traditional occupation, forcing them to migrate to urban areas either to work in bigger industries or to opt for some other occupation,” Patalingappa said. In order to redress these crucial issues, the Federation decided to set up the centre at Challakere, he said.With this aim, the Federation has prepared a project plan of Rs one crore, which will have a production unit, a training centre and a large warehouse.