The Odisha Government has set a target to produce 113.19 lakh sqm of textile and handloom products worth Rs 223 crore in the current fiscal with a jump of nearly 25 per cent from the previous year. Keeping in mind the flow of tourists during the upcoming Hockey Men’s World Cup Bhubaneswar 2018, the production target has been enhanced from 90.55 lakh sqm set for 2017-18 financial year. While 16 districts are producing textile and handloom products, the State has 40,164 looms of which 34,086 are active.
Since only 21,760 looms were operating during last year, the Directorate of Textiles has asked all zonal officers to activate 3,000 more looms to achieve the target for the year. The target for Bargarh has been set at highest 20.4 lakh sqm, followed by Cuttack 18.36 lakh sqm and Athagarh 15.5 lakh sqm.
Other producing zones include Khurda (6.14 lakh sq metre), Sonepur (5.42 lakh sqm), Nayagarh (4.99 lakh sqm), Patnagarh (4.78 lakh sqm), Balasore (3.07 lakh sqm), Baripada (2.5 lakh sqm), Keonjhar (2.52 lakh sqm) and Berhampur (3.86 lakh sqm).
Of 90.55 lakh sqm of target set for last year, the achievement was nearly 71.54 per cent. The Directorate was displeased over the performance of many zones as the number of working looms came down from 22,824 in 2016-17 to 21,760 in 2017-18.