Arni, a town synonymous with silk, will soon have its own handloom silk park. While hundreds of traditional weavers will get access to newer designs through this park, the facility will put in place a system to treat and reuse three lakh litres of effluent every day.
The Arni Handloom Silk Park, a project envisaged as a 20-25 acre facility, will be a one-stop facility to manufacture sarees. It will cater to at least 25,000 weavers in and around Arni.
H. Ragupathi Ramaswami, one of the six directors of the park, said the main objective of the park was to prevent groundwater pollution.
“We know what has happened to Tirupur. As a result of pollution, units are closing down, affecting the livelihood of many. So, we wanted to act quickly and before it impacted the environment and our livelihood. Thus was born the idea of Arni Handloom Silk Park,” he said.
Every day, weavers in Arni used three lakh litres of water to dye 3,000 kilos of silk. The effluent was discharged into the drainage system, raising the risk of polluting groundwater, he said. “This park will have an effluent treatment plant through which we plan to treat and reuse 2.75 lakh litres of water for dyeing, while the remaining will be used for greenery on the campus. This way, we will achieve zero liquid discharge for the Arni handloom silk cluster,” he also said.
Slow start
Nevertheless, the initiative has had a slow start. An official of the Department of Handlooms, Tiruvannamalai, said the Arni Handloom Silk Park was registered under the Companies Act in 2015.
The directors of the park signed a memorandum of understanding with the Department of Handlooms and Textiles, Government of Tamil Nadu in 2016.
“The project has not taken off as the directors are yet to identify land, register it and handover to the government so that all infrastructural needs could be established. The park will have all facilities to manufacture sarees under a single roof,” he said.
It was to expedite the works that Collector K.S. Kandasamy recently convened a meeting with directors of Arni Handloom Silk Park to discuss works to identify and purchase land to establish the park.
“We want to industrialise this traditional art of weaving so that livelihoods can be sustained. There would be separate units for each process of saree manufacturing such as warp sizing and pirn winding. In the first phase, there will be 2,000 looms. About 3,000 kilos of raw silk will be dyed per day for the 25,000 weavers at the park,” Mr. Ramaswami said.
These looms would have electronic jacquard boxes, he said and they have agreed to provide them on 75% subsidy. With this advanced facility, weavers will be able to adopt newer designs and intricate patterns for the sarees. Each memory card will have 500 designs.”
A design studio where experts would share ideas on new designs would be one of the highlights of the park. Another feature will be a training centre that would impart training in designing, weaving, twisting and dyeing.
