The community which is engaged in weaving famous Benarasi sarees is being moved out of Dhaka’s congested Mirpur to an open area in Shariatpur and Madaripur.
The new handloom industry based society will be called Sheikh Hasina Handloom Community. Work is underway to take over 120 acres of land needed for the relocation of the indigenous clothes manufacturing industry.
It’s found that facilities like houses, schools will be established along with other civic amenities.
On Oct 12, 2014, the prime minister ordered the relocation of the Benarasi handloom community from Mirpur to outside Dhaka.
The first phase of the plan has already been approved at the ECNEC with an expenditure of Tk 2.53 billion. The whole amount will be provided from the government’s own fund and will be implemented by Bangladesh Handloom Board.
The work which began in July this year is expected to finish by the end of 2021.
The handloom community has been in Mirpur for over a hundred years but since house rent has soared, the weavers are facing losses.
Also, many handloom factories are torn down to make multi-storied buildings.
State minister for textile and jute, Mirza Azam, told Bangla Tribune: "Under this project, the socio-economic condition of weavers will improve and the industry will flourish.”