Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday announced a special package for the weavers of the state following reports that the Covid-19 had badly hit their livelihood.

Stating that handlooms are the main source of employment for the rural population after agriculture, Naveen announced interest-free loans of up to Rs 50,000 to weavers.

As per the announcement, 15,000 pit looms that are not concrete will be concreted in the next three years. Besides, Rs 7,000 will be spent for concreting of each pit loom. “So far 15,071 pit looms have been concreted out of 31,342 pit looms in the state,” officials said.

Besides, 3,000 weaver families will be provided with house-cum-work shed on a priority basis. The weavers will be provided with electricity and electrical fans so that they can do weaving and designing comfortably.

“It has also been decided to provide housing facilities to all eligible weaver families on a priority basis. The beneficiaries will be selected as per the guidelines of the panchayati raj department,” said a press release issued by the chief minister’s office

Infrastructure such as customer fulfilment centres (CFCs), warehouse and sales centres will be installed through the panchayati raj department to store the products of the weavers.