Lack of labs prevents action against Handloom Act violation

 STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The lack of any laboratory in Assam, nor in the other states in the Northeast, continues to prevent the state Handloom and Textiles Department from initiating legal action against unscrupulous businessmen who glut the Assam market with powerloom gamosas, mekhela-chadors, etc. The Handlooms (Reservation of Articles for Production) Act, 1985, prohibits the sale of such powerloom products.

According to State Handlooms and Textiles Department sources, they have to ascertain the seized items as those of powerlooms through tests in the laboratories designated by the Union Ministry of Textiles. Even though the department has experts who can distinguish handloom products from their powerloom evil twins, it has to send the seized goods for testing to the Textile Committee in Kolkata. However, the Textile Committee of Kolkata repeatedly expressed their inability to distinguish handloom and powerloom products that are identical. Due to this inability on the part of the Textile Committee, the department could never take legal action against the unscrupulous businessmen who sell powerloom products in Assam.

Since March 1, 2023, the department has been seizing powerloom products with the help of the district administrations and police. The department has several enforcement squads for this drive, but it has not sent the seized items to the Textile Committee in Kolkata, which has no expertise to distinguish handloom products from their powerloom evil twins.

Meanwhile, the Institute of Advanced Study in Science and Technology (IASST) located at Boragaon has claimed to have developed software that can distinguish handloom products from their powerloom evil twins. However, the software is still at the final stage of research, department sources said.

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