Raipur, 11 May 2022. Like Bhadohi of Uttar Pradesh, famous for carpets, now women are preparing carpets in Batwahi Gauthan of Surguja district. Women have been trained in making carpets by Chhattisgarh Handicrafts Development Board and now they are making attractive carpets of different sizes and designs with their own hands.
When Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel met these women at Batwahi Gauthan of Lundra Vidhan Sabha during the meeting, he could not stop praising them after seeing the design of the carpet. While encouraging the women weaving the carpets, the Chief Minister said that you have a very beautiful carpet.
It is worth mentioning that these women have got training through Handicrafts Development Board and raw material is being provided to them by the board itself. The Chief Minister posed for photographs with the women while sitting in the loom and encouraged the women. The women told Chief Minister Baghel that 70 carpets prepared by the women’s group at Mainpat, Lundra and Sitapur in Surguja district have been sent to the country’s prestigious Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie. These areas around Surguja have immense potential in the carpet industry as tribal families here have an emotional connect with this profession.
In fact, the first carpet making was started by the Tibetan refugee who came to Mainpat. The tribal people living in the adjoining areas, including Mainpat, Sitapur and Lundra, have learned carpet weaving from Tibetan refugees. Later, when the carpet work started decreasing, the people here started going to Bhadohi for carpet weaving work, but now with the help of Chhattisgarh Handicrafts Development Board, the work of carpet weaving has revived again, due to which the local carpet weavers are now No need to go to Bhadohi.
Trained women are now getting employment at the local level. The Chhattisgarh government is planning to expand carpet weaving in this area and work is being done rapidly. Women will be given looms in their homes so that they can earn extra income by weaving carpets in their spare time after completing their household chores. At present, women are earning around Rs 250 per day from carpet weaving. Chief Minister Shri Baghel met the women making wool balls used in carpet weaving and also learned about their work. On this occasion, Chief Minister Shri Baghel was presented a carpet as a gift by the Gauthan Management Committee.
