Visitors look at a craft exhibition in the city. A Telegraph file picture

Ranchi, Dec. 5: Along with industry, handicraft, too, is on the state government?s agenda.

To promote the state?s traditional arts and crafts sector, the government is entering into a partnership with the National Institute of Design (NID), besides dedicating centres exclusively for the sale and promotion of handicrafts.

At a fee of Rs 9.5 lakh, the institute is working on a project that will offer the state measures and solutions for the handicrafts sector, which is yet to take off.

?We have in fact been talking to NID at length. But the matter is yet to take a concrete shape now. We want to tap the tremendous potential of handicrafts in the state and the institute has been asked to suggest solutions that will bring Jharkhand on a par with states like Gujarat and Rajasthan in this sector. The craftsmanship in the state is as attractive as those of any other state and can easily find a market abroad,? said Manikant Azad, director in charge of the Khadi, handicraft and sericulture directorate.

The centres, termed urban haats, are coming up in the five districts of Ranchi, Hazaribagh, Giridih, Seraikela and Deoghar.

While the centre at Deoghar is 80 per cent complete, work at the other centres has just begun, Azad informed. While the projects at Ranchi and Hazaribagh have been funded by the Union government, the other three centres are being funded by the state government.

Each of these urban haats will be constructed at a cost of Rs 1.5 to Rs 2 crore. They will be designed with enough space and scope for interested artisans of the districts to display and sell their products, Azad further informed.

To give national exposure to the state?s handicraft, the government is in the final stages of purchasing a plot of land at Baba Khadag Singh Marg in New Delhi for an emporium.

Earlier, craft from Jharkhand was stocked at the Bihar emporium in Delhi, which was closed with the formation of the new state, Azad pointed out.

The NGOs, too, will be welcomed to play an active role, Azad added.