The Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) on January 6 signed a MoU with the Indo-Tibetan Border Police for the supply of 1.72 lakh cotton durries worth ₹8.74 crore every year. The agreement was signed by Deputy CEO KVIC and DIG, ITBP, in presence of KVIC Chairman Vinai Kumar Saxena and Additional Secretary (Home) Vivek Bhardwaj and other officials of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs). The agreement has been signed for one year and will be renewed over the subsequent years.
The development comes in the wake of Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s instructions to the paramilitary forces to encourage local products in a bid to support the “Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan” initiated by PM Narendra Modi. Union Minister for MSME, Shri Nitin Gadkari welcomed the move.
As per the specifications of the MoU, KVIC will provide blue-colour durries of 1.98 m length and 1.07 m width. The cotton durries will be produced by Khadi artisans in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab. The next products in the pipeline are Khadi blankets, bedsheets, pillow-covers, pickles, honey, papad and cosmetics, etc.
The KVIC Chairman hailed the agreement as a “historic” development and said that this would not only encourage the use of Swadeshi products in our forces but also create large-scale additional employment for Khadi artisans. “Providing best quality products to our jawans and timely delivery of consignment will be the top priority of KVIC. The purchase orders from the CAPFs is also a matter of pride for Khadi artisans who are serving country’s jawans in their own ways,” Saxena said.
KVIC developed the cotton durries as per the samples provided by ITBP. The cotton durries prepared by KVIC have also been certified by Northern India Textile Research Association (NITRA), a unit of the Textile Ministry recognized by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research.
Earlier, on July 31 last year, KVIC had signed an agreement with ITBP for supplying Kacchi Ghani mustard oil, the consignments of which have been successfully supplied. The ITBP is the nodal agency appointed by MHA for the procurement of provisions on behalf of all paramilitary forces.
(Published from PIB)