Silk cocoons being dried in the sun in Malda (Surajit Roy)

Malda, Feb. 16: Residents of the district are unhappy about the tag the silk produced from the district gets. Although the bulk of the silk of Bengal is grown in Malda, it is known to the world as Murshidabad Silk.

Bengal environment minister and a CPM veteran from Malda, Sailen Sarkar, is critical of the Centre’s inability to promote silk from the district. “Why should there be an office of the central government in Murshidabad? Malda produces 76 per cent of the silk and is the Number 1 in the state,” Sarkar said.

There is good silk production in Kaliachak and Englishbazar blocks and also in Chanchol and Ratua. But for the past three decades, nothing had been done to develop silk cultivation in Malda district, Sarkar said.

The minister, who was speaking at a silk fair on Thursday, said he was not aware of such an event being organised by the Union government here. “The fair could have been done in a better way,” he said. The programme was inaugurated by director of the Central Silk Research and Training Department A.K. Vajpayee.

Sarkar alleged that the silk board was being run by a southern lobby, which has the largest number of members in the panel.

The Centre has not thought of taking any measure to improve the quality of silk yarns produced in the district. The yield is going to southern states because of the absence of a mill here, Sarkar said.

“Many farmers who were earlier engaged in sericulture are now farming vegetables or even flowers. However, if we need to remain competitive, we have to improve silk production. It is also not correct on the part of the Centre to have only one member from Bengal on the Board,” he said.

However, textiles commissioner of Bengal Manoj Panth has flashed a ray of hope. A route map for the development of the silk industries in Bengal has been prepared. “The map includes Malda, Murshidabad, Birbhum, Purulia, Bankura, Darjeeling and Cooch Behar,” he said.

The state’s Textile Policy 2012 and Textile Vision 2018 will lay stress on research and development, production, manufacturing and marketing of silk. “Sericulture has long been a tradition in the state and we are determined to make it more profitable,” Panth said.