SUALKUCHI, Feb 28 � Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi dedicated the Vastra Udyan, a children�s park and Aamar Sualkuchi, a museum like institute with same sculptural forms depicting the different activities of the handlooms of the silk village Sualkuchi, to the people yesterday.
Addressing the inaugural meeting, the Chief Minister said the handlooms of Sualkuchi are the pride of Assam. The people of the village are preserving this cultural heritage. Preservation of the handloom industry is essential but mechanisation of the handloom is equally essential with the changed of time, he said.
He hoped that this museum like institute will attract the attention of the tourists. Speaking on the infrastructural development of the villages, he said people live in the city in compact areas. Their living standard are very costly. So the government�s aim is to develop the infrastructure of the remote villages so that people wish to live in the villages, the Chief Minister added.
Commenting on the ongoing agitation against the Subansiri dam project, the Chief Minister said people demand electricity for farming and weaving. �I cannot provide electricity if the river dam is not constructed. I am not a magician to give the people power with the help of a magic wand,� he said.
The Chief Minister did not speak about the crisis of handlooms nor did he give any assurance for solution of the problems like hike in raw materials. He only declared that a yarn bank will be set up from next year and provide subsidised yarns.
In her address, Pranati Phookan, Minister, Handloom and Textiles, Sericulture and Cultural Affairs, said that the Government has decided to apply modern technology in handlooms. She called upon the rearers to extend full cooperation in rearing muga cocoons to preserve the heritage of golden silk.
She termed Sualkuchi a model village of the State, for it preserves the cultural heritage producing the golden silk fabrics as well as the silvery cloths.
Addressing the meeting, Health Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma said Aamar Sualkuchi is not a museum but a collection of some sculptural forms depicting the different weaving processes of the handloom industry which is the only avenue of the livelihood of the people of Sualkuchi, Prominent sculptor Biren Singha created these sculptures of the textiles park and Aamar Sualkuchi and it is presumed that the tourists coming to Sualkuchi will have a clear impression of the different processes of weaving of the silk village, he said.
Biren Singha, the architect and sculptor of the textile garden, spoke of his experience in creating those statues in the last two-and-a-half years. He expressed his happiness in working here and said that people get incentive in working as the people of Sualkuchi are all busy in their own works.
Earlier SK Roy, Deputy Commissioner Kamrup (R), read out the welcome address. He said that a management committee will be formed to look after the Vastra Udyan and the Aamar Saulkuchi.
The meeting was attended Juri Sarma Bordoloi, Vice Chairman, Guwahati Development Authority, Ashish Bhutani, Commissioner, Guwahati Development Authority, Kamaleswar Goswami, Commissioner, Handloom and Textiles.
The Chief Minister, before attending the meeting went to Sualkuchi Institute of Fashion Technology and witnessed some samples of the activities of the institution which he had inaugurated in 2008.
