GUWAHATI, June 6 - The Assam Textile Merchants� Association (ATMA) today assured the State Handloom and Textiles Minister Ranjit Dutta that its members would stop selling the gamosas produced in power looms in greater Guwahati areas.
Official sources said this evening that the Minister held a meeting with the representatives of the ATMA, Assam Chambers of Commerce, officials of the Handloom and Textile Directorate, ARTFED and the Assam Government Marketing Corporation (AGMC) on the issue of providing safeguard to the gamosas produced by the weavers of Assam at their handlooms.
On behalf of the State government, the Minister assured that the government would increase production of handloom-woven gamosas and the textile merchants can procure such gamosas from the ARTFED, AGMC, cooperative societies and the production centres of the Handloom and Textile Directorate.
However, the prices of these gamosas will be determined according to their size and quality.
It needs mention here that according to a rough estimate, the State needs around 10 lakh gamosas in a year.
The Minister also said that the yarn banks of the Handloom and Textile Directorate will supply yarn directly to the weavers at 20 per cent subsidised rate through ARTFED. The State has around 14 lakh handloom weavers and the government will try to meet their yarn demands, said the sources.
For making such an arrangement of selling handloom-woven gamosas in other parts of the State, the government will now have to sit with the textile merchants of other areas, sources said.
