GUWAHATI, Jan 23 � Threats of the militant groups notwithstanding, the demand for the National Tricolour is growing in the State for the past about eight years. This demand will grow further if the entire enlightened section of the State's population comes out in the open to hoist the National Flag in their institutions and residences giving up the habit of treating the Republic Day and the Independence Day as mere holidays.
For the past few years, the Tailoring Section of the Assam Khadi and Village Industries Board here has been stitching, on an average, 20,000 to 25, 000 National Flags of various sized. This Tailoring Section stitches the National Flag for the entire NE region.
However, due to the late arrival of cloth from the Kolkata Khadi Ashram, the Tailoring Section will have to restrict its production to 10,000 to 12,000 flags on the eve of the Republic Day, said Dinesh Sarma, Manager of the Tailoring Section and Kabin Pathak, Master Cutter of the Section.
The local production of khadi cloth for the purpose of stitching the flags has gone down and hence the State Khadi Board is depending on the Kolkata cloth, they said.
Everyday, about 10 persons, on an average, are engaged in stitching the flags these days. The Board is engaging these people on a contract basis, besides, three employees of the Board, including Sarma and Pathak.
Ten employees of the Board are also working everyday at its Dying Section here to help production of the flags. The people of the Tailoring Section are working even on Sundays, said Sarma and Pathak.
These days, car flags of 1 foot by 1.5 feet and 1.5 feet by 2.25 feet (ft) flags are in high demand. Next to them, sizes of 3 ft by 4.5 ft and 2 ft by 3 ft are the most sought after, said Sarma and Pathak.
The Chandmari Khadi Bhandar, one of the city sales counters of the Khadi Board, is earning between Rs 2,000 and 3,000 everyday for the past about five days by selling National Flags, said Nakul Chandra Deka, manager of the sales counter.
