Re-affirming that all the available resources will be pooled to restore the pristine glory of State’s world famous Silk Factory at Rajbagh, the Minister for Industries and Commerce, Chander Parkash Ganga today said that the World Bank has approved over Rs 23 crore for ‘revival and restoration’ of the factory.This was stated by Ganga during his visit to the factory. He was accompanied by Vice Chairman, J&K Industries Ltd Gulzar Ahmad, Commissioner Secretary, Shailendra Kumar, Managing Director JKI and other concerned officials.On the occasion, Managing Director, JKI gave a detailed presentation on various aspects of the design drawings for the restoration of Silk Factory. It was given out that the funds for the revival of Silk factory at Rajbagh has been approved by the World Bank under the scheme ‘Livelihood for Composite Market Implementation Centre for Whole chain of Silk Activity at Silk Factory Rajbagh Srinagar.’
The Minister was briefed by the concerned officials that the devastating floods of September 2014 had deteriorated the positioning of the factory as its looms, raw material and finished silk products stored in the showroom were damaged by the deluge.It was informed that World Bank support would enable the Corporation to upgrade the current infrastructure for increasing silk manufacturing capacity from 12,000 metres to around 5 lakh metres annually.In order to preserve and revitalize the Silk Factory as a heritage site, the Minister stressed that while restoring its past glory as a major silk producing industry in the country, the need of the hour is to improve its viability as a self sustaining and employment generating Public Sector Unit.The Minister also interacted with workers who put forth their demands. He gave them a patient hearing and assured them that their all genuine demands would be looked into on priority.