Various initiatives taken by the Government for weavers was brought to light during a visit to Sirumugai, Ballepalayam, Ilupanatham and surrounding areas. The Tamil Nadu Textile Department in Coimbatore had arranged the trip for media persons.

Society of Alankombu displayed variety of woven fabrics, which had won the weavers of the society a national award. The Society is headed by a team of experts spread throughout India.

The embossed saree made by Gunasekaran of the Society won the 2009 Best Designed Saree and was awarded Rs. 1 lakh and a memento by President Pranab Mukherjee.

Other specially designed sarees by Thiyagarajan of this Society, bearing photographs of national leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Nehru, Dr. Radhakrishnan, Bala Gangadar Tilak, and Bhagat Singh have also won awards.

Speaking to media, Society President K. Marimuthu said there were many varieties like pure silk cotton sarees that are made there, costing between Rs. 900 and Rs. 1300, and Kora cotton silk sarees from Rs. 1200 to Rs. 1600. The present market of soft silk sarees ranging between Rs. 4000 and Rs. 7000 in nearly 276 designs were getting ready for Diwali. He said consumers could directly approach the society or Co-optex to purchase the same.

R. Chandrasekaran, Manager of the Society, added that the price and the quality were very reasonable for the consumer compared to the price in leading showrooms.

Handloom Additional Director M. Muthusamy added that this Society produced nearly four to five crore silk sarees at an annual turnover of Rs. 54 crores. It was the only Society operating without loss and said there were about 450 looms and had a membership of 1000.

Medical assistant were being provided to 2,000 weavers’ families and old age pension of Rs. 1,000 was being given to 93 persons.

Nearly 75 houses were being funded by the State Government for the S.R.S. Society at Bagathur area for the weavers where the State Government has allotted land, Rs. 70 lakh for construction and Rs. 3,000 for solar system.

The beneficiaries said that it was a good effort by the Government as they had no houses of their own.

S.R.S. Society at Sirumugai was also visited by the officials and Project Director D. Murugan where the latest trend of bridal sarees, Dasawadaram, and Krishna sarees were displayed.

The weavers said that bride and bridegroom images on the saree took nearly 50 days for weavers using electronic loom and added that the price was reduced to Rs. 50,000 where previously it was Rs. 80,000 when woven manually.

The demand for silk sarees with the Hallmark symbol from the Ministry showed that people trusted the symbol and it also benefitted the consumer from handloom weavers society.