Chief Secretary, B B Vyas Friday chaired a meeting here to review the progress of construction of Silk factory building at Rajbagh Srinagar under the Restoration and Strengthening of Livelihood component of the Jhelum and Tawi Flood Recovery Project (JTFRP). The project is funded by the World Bank.

Chief Executive Officer, JTFRP, Mr Sundeep K Nayak, Commissioner/Secretary, Industries & Commerce Department, Mr Shailendra Kumar, Commissioner/Secretary, Housing & Urban Development Department, Mr Hirdesh Kumar, Secretary Tourism, Mr Farooq Ahmad Shah, Director Sericulture, Mr Mir Tariq Ali, Director, Technical Education, Ms Shabnum Kambli, Commissioner SMC, Dr Shafqat and other senior officers were present in the meeting.

Conservation Architect and Director, CRCI India Pvt. Ltd, Ms Gurmeet S. Rai, gave a detailed presentation on various aspects of the design drawings of Silk Factory Rajbagh, in order to preserve and revitalise it, as a heritage site, while restoring its past glory as a major silk producing industry in the country and to improve its viability as a self sustaining and employment generating Public Sector Unit.

It was highlighted in the meeting by Ms Rai that Silk Factory at Rajbagh, once the largest silk factory in the world, is a typical example of early 20th Century Industrial Architecture and our designs seek to incorporate the components of heritage value in the new structure.

World Bank has approved Rs 100 crore for ‘revival and restoration’ of handicraft sector in the state including Rs 55 crore for the silk factory, woollen mill and development of three handicraft clusters in the Kashmir Valley. The funds for the revival of Silk factory at Rajbagh have been approved under the scheme ‘Livelihood for Composite Market Implementation Centre for Whole chain of Silk Activity at Silk Factory Rajbagh Srinagar”.

The Silk Factory at Rajbagh suffered extensive damage in the devastating floods of September 2014.  

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