APCO to set up Rs 10 crore handloom processing centre to help weavers

VIJAYAWADA: In a bid to put the Andhra Pradesh State Handloom Weavers Cooperative Society Ltd (APCO) on the road of profit making, the management has decided to set up a handloom processing centre either at Nellore or Guntur at an estimated cost of Rs 10 crore. 

Disclosing it at a high-level review meeting in Vijayawada on Thursday, APCO chairman Chillapalle Venkata Naga Mohan Rao emphasised the need for modernisation of handlooms in tune with changing times to attract more customers. 

He said the designs should be modified or created in tune with taste and ideas of the youth and efforts should be made to bridge the gap between the producers and consumers 

“Our target should be to provide work for every handloom worker so he/she leads a comfortable life,” he said. Chillapalle said that the Chief Minister was very keen on cultivation of mulberry so as to help the sericulture-based handloom industry. 

Efforts are on to take up cultivation of mulberry in one lakh acres in Visakhapatnam district, thereby lending a helping hand to the sericulture sector, he added. 

According to him, plans are afoot for establishing a silk processing unit in Vizag, which will overcome the transport and processing problems of cocoons. APCO MD BR Ambedkar, general managers Ramesh Sudarshan Rao and other officials were present.