KENDRAPARA: The recent flood in the State has taken a heavy toll on the weaver community here. Having lost all their belongings to the flood, including the looms, nearly 2,000 weavers in Kaudiabarai, Ramachandrapur, Samsara, Jagannathpur, Pohana, Odishabindha, Dihasahi and Gaudia in Garadpur and Marsaghai blocks are staring at an uncertain future.“The recent flood has rendered us homeless. My looms were washed away last Saturday. I do not think we will survive,” rued Kunjabihari Moharana, a weaver from Kaudiabarai village. Another weaver, Golakha Chandra Nayak of Ramachandrapur village, has similar tales to tell. “I was earning ` 6,000 a month, but my looms were damaged after my house collapsed,” he said.The flood, said the weavers, has destroyed hundreds of looms after their mud walls either collapsed or were damaged by flood water. Several looms were buried in the mud. Such is the situation that there are no takers even if the looms are disposed of as scrap. “Even the scrap dealers have refused to buy them,” said a weaver from Ramachandrapur village, Sangram Sahoo.With the water receding, several families have returned to rebuild their bases. However, lack of modernisation, education and aggressive marketing of the product plague the profession. The pathetic condition has worsened after the flood, said Laxmi Narayan Weaver’s Cooperative Society secretary Prakash Chandra Nayak. “We have already started to figure out the looms that require repair. We have ordered the replacements to benefit the families who are into the business of making the looms,” said Deputy Director of Handloom and Textiles Prasanna Kumar Nath, adding that he expects the weavers to start working with the new looms in two months.
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