Piyush Goyal, the Union Minister for textiles, commerce, and industry on Saturday announced a mega handloom cluster to be established in Imphal East district of Manipur in Saikhom Mirabai Chanu's hometown.
Mr. Goyal, who arrived for a two-day visit on Saturday, made the announcement during the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav ceremony in Imphal. Among the attendees were State Textiles, Commerce and Industry Minister Th Biswajit Singh, Forest and Environment Minister Awangbow Newmai, MPs Chhaya Verma, Subhash Baheria, and Dola Sen, Union Textiles Secretary Prasad Singh, Chief Secretary Dr. Rajesh Kumar.
The proposed project, reportedly worth 30 crores, will be constructed in Nongpok Kakching village to commemorate Mirabai Chanu's performance in the recently concluded Tokyo Olympics.
The minister mentioned that Manipur's handloom and handicraft industry's potential is huge and it is yet to be explored. He also promised all possible support from the ministry for skill development, value addition, packaging, design and brand imaging in the state.
Mr. Goyal also suggested Chief Minister Nongthombam Biren Singh request Prime Minister Narendra Modi to lay the foundation stone for the mega handloom cluster to be constructed under the National Handloom Development Program.
Citing the PM's commitment to development in the northeastern region, he said that Mr. Modi's 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' initiative had pushed Indians to strive for self-sufficiency and called on the people to come together to make India a world superpower.
CM N. Biren Singh took to Twitter to inform about the announcements from the Union Minister. He said that the handloom and handicraft products from Manipur were unique and had the potential to hold a special place in the world market.
He then went on to add that the state had topped the list of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprise (MSME) business registrations among the other northeastern states.