Telangana state government to get associated with the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) to bring out new designs to appeal to a wider range of people, a step towards protecting the handloom industry, said Collector Prashanth Jeevan Patil at the inaugural function of textile exhibiton on Monday.

Mr. Patil urged people to patronise handloom products and promote weavers as handloom formed a part of their culture. Government employees and public representatives were asked to sport handloom clothes once a week to promote such products.

Also, scores of weavers are dependent on this age-old industry which is slowly losing patronage. People should protect and preserve the handloom industry by buying products from weavers, he added.

With an aim to promote the use of handloom fabrics, several handloom stalls were set up at the Collectorates at Medak and Sangareddy on Monday.

At Sangareddy, Collector Manickaraj Kanan and Joint-Collector V. Venkateswarlu bought a few items and even wore them. It was also decided that officers should wear handloom fabric every Monday without fail. This was the initiative suggested by IT and Municipal Administration Minister K. Taraka Rama Rao.

The products at the stalls were brought from handloom cooperative societies of Jogipet, Narayankhed, and Sangareddy.

While, Collector Yogitha Rana urged government officers and employees to attend the Prajavani (grievance cell) meeting by wearing handloom clothes every Monday.

Addressing the gathering after opening a handloom outlet set up by the Telangana Chenetha Society at Pragathi Bhavan here on Monday, she said that orders were also issued to the employees at the division and mandal level to wear cotton and handloom clothes at least once a week.

Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao had taken a decision to make it mandatory to ensure financial support to weavers, Ms. Rana said, appealing to the people to use handloom products at home.

The Collector also suggested the people to purchase clothes worth Rs. 500 every month by joining the Chenetha Lakshmi scheme. Members of the scheme would get a rebate on the same. With people buying handloom products they would help the weavers come out of their financial woes.