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After 15 years of shutting down, Rajshahi Silk Factory has partially resumed production Monday.
The Bangladesh Silk Development Board (BSDB) plans to make at least five looms out of 63 functional within next 45 days.
The BSDB will turn on all of the looms in phases. It has already allocated Taka 320 million for boosting silk production and mulberry farming.
BSDB Managing Director Anisul Haque Bhuiyan said a total of 287,000 meter silk cloth will be manufactured annually if all 63 looms could be functional.
The move to revive the factory has created a high hope among all concerned in the area. A ceremony was held marking the renovation.
Lawmaker of local constituency Fazley Hossain Badsha formally inaugurated the operation in the function.
Badsha expressed the hope that the factory will be fully functional within the next six months.
He said closure of the mill was very much unfortunate for people of the area.
Besides, he said many people of the region will be employed here after reopening of the mill fully.
A model factory will be set up at adjacent to Bangladesh Sericulture Research and Training Institute here as an exhibit so that people visiting here from outside could get a real picture of Rajshahi silk.
According to BSS, the factory was commissioned on 15.5 bigha of land in Seroil area in the city in 1961.
In 1996, the then Awami League government modernised the factory at a cost of around Taka 100 million.
The factory was closed on November 30, 2002 facing continuous loss.