TN govt begins procurement of cotton yarn for Pongal dhotis, saris

Chennai, Aug 26 (KNN) The Tamil Nadu handloom department on Wednesday issued a tender notice for the purchase of 1,683 metric tonnes of 60sC dyed cotton cone warn yarn for manufacturing free dhotis and saris for Pongal festival in 2023.

It has also placed an order for 1,748 metric tonnes of grey polyester 2,023 metric tonnes of dyed polyester, 357 metric tonnes of TPM dyed polyester and 386 metric tonnes of Cot look air texturized yarn. The last date of submission of tender documents is September 9 and the supply period is 60 days.

The Federation of Power Looms Associations welcomes the state government’s move to procure cotton yarn for manufacturing free dhotis and saris.

Tamil Nadu, every year distributes free dhotis and saris to ration card holders. For this it procures yarn and distributes to cooperative societies and power loom weavers’ cooperative societies in the State.

Usually, yarn is distributed to power loom weavers’ cooperative societies in June or July, enabling weavers to commence production. Since, there was a delay this year, the federation had urged the government to initiate the process so that the dhotis and saris can be made by the end of December.

After procurement, the yarn is distributed to 2,664 handloom weavers, 11,124 pedal loom weavers and 41,983 power loom weavers for producing 1.80 crore sets of dhotis and saris.

Speaking on the government’s decision to procure yarn, B. Kandavel, federation coordinator said that over three lakh workers will directly and indirectly benefit from the production activities.

This year, the state government has allocated Rs 487.92 crore for the distribution of the items.  (KNN Bureau)