Photos: Kashmir’s century old silk reeling factory reopens after three decades
Updated On Jul 21, 2018 12:21 PM IST
Since 1989, the silk reeling machines in the three filatures and their 580 basins in which cocoons used to be processed have remained defunct after the Jammu and Kashmir Silk Factory situated at Solina shut down owing to decreased production and huge loses. The government is now attempting to resurrect the factory and give a boost to silk production in the state. In its first stage, the project has started reeling silk on five machines with 30 basins which were installed in one of the filatures in 1999 but had remained unused.
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Updated on Jul 21, 2018 12:21 PM IST
A labourer cooks mulberry cocoons at the Jammu and Kashmir Silk Factory at Solina, Jammu and Kashmir. After three decades, the cocoons have returned and silk is being reeled once more at this century old silk factory set up in 1897 under British patronage with the help of Sir Thomas Wardle, President of the Silk Association of Great Britain. (Waseem Andrabi / HT Photo)
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Updated on Jul 21, 2018 12:21 PM IST
The walls are damp, cob webs still line its high ceilings and the windows and doors appear decrepit, but all this is no distraction for the workers boiling cocoons and drawing silk fibres in one of the three massive filatures of the Jammu and Kashmir Silk Factory. (Waseem Andrabi / HT Photo)
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Updated on Jul 21, 2018 12:21 PM IST
Since 1989, the silk reeling machines in the three filatures and their 580 basins in which cocoons were processed had remained defunct after the factory shut down owing to decreased production and huge loses. Production of raw silk registered a decline of 72% from 57000 kg in 1980-81 to 16000 kg in 1989-90. (Waseem Andrabi / HT Photo)
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Updated on Jul 21, 2018 12:21 PM IST
Workers air dry mulberry cocoons before they are cooked and reeled into yarn. The government is now attempting to resurrect the factory and boost silk production in the state. In the first stage they have started reeling silk on five machines with 30 basins which were installed in one of the filatures in 1999 but have remained unused. (Waseem Andrabi / HT Photo)
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Updated on Jul 21, 2018 12:21 PM IST
“We have hired workers from outside who know the trade. We don’t want to employ people permanently. Over-employment and unaccountability played a major role in the downfall of the factory in the past,” said managing director, Industries Limited, Javid Iqbal who is overseeing the revival process. (Waseem Andrabi / HT Photo)
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Updated on Jul 21, 2018 12:21 PM IST
Kashmir’s association with silk and sericulture has found mention in the Rajtarangini, the oldest written chronicle of Kashmir, besides the 7th century AD accounts of Xuang Zang’s travelogue. Jammu and Kashmir has been producing among the finest silk qualities in the world with high end varieties like ‘lotus’, ‘iris’, ‘tulip’, and ‘neel’. (Waseem Andrabi / HT Photo)
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Updated on Jul 21, 2018 12:21 PM IST
For the past twenty days, 10 odd workers, at the Solina factory, who have been brought from West Bengal, have produced some 170 kg of silk from cocoons. They have also been training around 20 local Kashmiris with the aim of slowly acquainting them with the process and indigenizing production, said the filature in-charge Ghulam Mohammad Bhat. (Waseem Andrabi / HT Photo)
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Updated on Jul 21, 2018 12:21 PM IST
A worker moves spools of harvested silk at the Solina factory. The industries department has been planning to bring three more machines with 30 basins to increase production. “So far we have not made much investment and are treading cautiously but in the second phase we want to buy some machines and in the third phase we will focus on its infrastructure. We are taking a holistic view,” said Iqbal. (Waseem Andrabi / HT Photo)
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Updated on Jul 21, 2018 12:21 PM IST
He also said that about 40,000 families of farmers producing cocoons, forming an unorganized sector, are the primary beneficiaries of this revival process. Currently they are dependent on buyers from Malda (West Bengal) and sometimes have to sell in distress because they have no other option. The start of the government’s own filature gives them an alternative. (Waseem Andrabi / HT Photo)
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Updated on Jul 21, 2018 12:21 PM IST