GUWAHATI: In normal times, Assam’s silk village of Sualkuchi would have been abuzz with activity and brimming with visitors, both overseas and domestic, with the advent of spring and Rongali Bihu.
Not this year though, as the coronavirus outbreak worldwide and the subsequent restrictions on travel have left weavers high and dry.
“The coronavirus outbreak has brought the 7200-odd active looms to a standstill for about a month now and business to an abrupt halt. Most of our items are ready but the absence of the pre-Bihu market has not only dried up income but has made making ends meet a difficult proposition for thousands of weaver-families,” Hiralal Kalita, a master weaver and secretary of the Sualkuchi Tat Silpa Unnayan Samiti, told The Shillong Times on Saturday.
“The period between November and April is the time when we earn additional income of Rs 1 lakh per month. However, following an order from the district administration, we have kept the units shut from March 9 this year,” Kalita, the proprietor of Harmohan Silk Factory, said.
“What’s unprecedented is that foreign tourists, for whom I have an array of silk products such as stoles, bedcovers, wall hangings and plain fabric ready in my unit, have not been able to come to our town since March 3 last following a set of restrictions imposed in the wake of the pandemic. This has affected business adversely,” he said.
Bulk exports too have stopped and weavers like Kalita anticipate that the recovery of the huge losses would take at least four years, if the situation returns to normal by the end of the year.
“We had signed an agreement with a Japan-based organisation in August last year and since then started exporting about 45 metres of muga fabric to that country every month. But this too has stopped from last month,” Kalita rued.
The situation with an extended lockdown looming large is even alarming for many weavers who had taken bank loans last year with the hope of returning them with interest after making profits.
The Assam Apex Weavers and Artisans Cooperative Federation Ltd (ARTFED), the apex body of weavers in the state, is also likely to incur a loss of Rs 20 lakh in the absence of demand for the products woven by about 12000 weavers, owing to the ongoing crisis.
Production of gamosas too has been scaled down by the state handloom and textiles department amid the virus-induced lockdown, a move that would adversely affect thousands of weavers in the state this season.